It’s a plan city staff says was more than 30 years in the making. As of Jan. 1, all Plant City residents now have trash removal service provided by the city.
Before Jan. 1, areas of the city annexed after the Solid Waste Disposal and Resource Recovery Act of 1983 had trash removal provided by the county. The act was passed in 1983 to help fund bonds on a county-run waste-to-energy plant. Under the act, Hillsborough County retained control of solid waste removal for unincorporated Hillsborough County areas, even if those areas were annexed into other cities.
Since the county took over areas annexed after 1983, the city has been trying to get them back to provide more streamlined services to
city residents who already have other utilities controlled by the city. City commissioners proved an agreement with the county to take control of solid waste removal in May. The county commission ratified the decision in June. The decision adds about 1,200 new homes to the city’s residential waste removal.
“There’s lots of projected growth, especially out on County Line Road,” Solid Waste Director Jill Sessions said. “That was another impetus behind making this happen now. As we see our city grow, we want to be the provider of all services within our city limits. As the city grows we need to grow with it, as all of our utilities do.”
As Plant City has grown, areas haven’t been annexed in perfect squares, so trash removal between city and county trucks has been more like a puzzle piece.
“There were neighborhoods where our trucks literally passed each other while collecting on the same street,” former solid waste director Troy Martin said.
The county collects trash in bins, while the city collects bagged trash. Often, that can lead to aesthetic discrepancies in neighborhoods. The streamlined services help keep up appearances and ease confusion on code enforcement, Sessions said, as well as providing more personalized service.
The transition is the first step to Plant City providing better customer service, commissioners said, a step that took the work of nearly three administrations.
According to city documents, the city taking over trash removal from the county “will result in an estimated increase in cumulative net operating income of $7.6 million during the next 10 years for the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund.”
The city is expected to take over commercial pickup around 2020.