Simpsonville Business Owners nervous about City’s plan to terminate Trash Removal

If you run a business located within Simpsonville’s City limits, your trash removal services are essentially the same as those for Simpsonville residents. You get one 95-gallon roll out cart that is picked up once per week, with the cost paid through property taxes. That may change starting in July.

Simpsonville is considering a plan to terminate trash removal services for businesses within City limits. If approved by City Council as part of the 2017-2018 budget, the changes would go into effect in July 2017.

This would mean each business would have to independently contract for trash removal, potentially driving up the costs due to the loss of economies of scale. Currently, one contractor, ACE Environmental of SC, picks up the trash for all businesses within the City limits.

To get a better idea of the impact the move would have on effected businesses, the Simpsonville Chamber of Commerce is about to launch a survey, asking these business owners the following questions:

• Does your business currently utilize/rely on the city’s trash removal services (including the roll carts and weekly pick-up services)?
• Do you support the city’s tentative decision to terminate trash removal services for businesses located within city limits, as a cost cutting measure in its annual budget?
• Prior to completing this questionnaire, did you know that the city was considering terminating trash removal services for businesses within city limits?
• If your business is currently utilizing the city’s trash removal services, please provide an estimated added expense that your business will incur if these services are terminated.
• As a business owner, would you be willing to pay a higher monthly or annual fee to the city in order to maintain your weekly trash removal services?
• If you would be willing to pay a higher fee to the city in order to maintain your weekly trash removal services, what approximate amount would you be willing to pay (in addition to any fees currently paid to the city)?
• Other than terminating the trash service or increasing fees, are there additional alternative solutions that you want the city to consider? Please describe your ideas or suggestions in the space below.

It is unknown whether the City plans to reduce the property taxes paid by the businesses that would lose the trash collection services. The Community Edge reached out to local business owner Hunter Howard Jr., who stated, “The city is trying to kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs. Businesses are assessed one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half times that of homeowners for their property taxes. This is an effort for the City to balance their budget on the backs of the business community. It sends wrong message if our city want to continue to attract economic development.”

The Simpsonville Chamber of Commerce survey is available here: City Trash Removal Survey