By Betsy Finklea
The Dillon City Council voted at their meeting on Monday night to send a letter to Amick that they intended to purchase a commercial front loader garbage truck from their company.
Last month, they discussed that they were having issues with the truck. This is the truck that picks up the big green dumpsters at commercial businesses.
City Manager Glen Wagner said they got quotes from $260,000 to $275,000. When they looked at those numbers, he said he began wondering if it was even worth it to continue in the commercial garbage business.
Wagner asked Finance Director Janet Bethea to pull some numbers, and he was “surprisingly shocked” at what those numbers turned out to be. He was preparing himself to come before council and say let’s get out of the commercial business. From the report for the year ending June 30, 2020, when you take off what the city spends on the commercial garbage business (landfill costs, employee costs, fuel costs, etc.) versus the revenue they bring in for 250 dumpsters, he doesn’t think they need to get out of the commercial business when they are making $377,000.
Mayor Pro-Tem Phil Wallace said the only thing he would add to that is as part of the budget, they should put in $50,000-$60,000 a year in a depreciation fund to replace it because it is about every five to seven years that it needs to be replaced. He said they should fix the old one to be on the backburner.
The General Fund depreciation account has about $800,000, Wagner said.
Wagner said the thing about a garbage truck is that it has to be ordered so far in advance. They have to be built from the ground-up.
He asked if they wanted them to write a letter saying they intended to buy a commercial garbage truck.
The quotes were from Amick in the amount of $257,253,97 (2021 model) and Carolina Environmental Systems for $279,300 (2022 model).
Councilman Johnny Eller asked that they look into whether an extended warranty is available since the original warranty is only for one year.
The motion was made by Councilman Tim Cousar to send the letter to put them on the list for the truck seconded by Councilman James “Bobie” Washington. The council voted to pass the motion.
Editor’s Note: This meeting appears on The Dillon Herald’s channel on YouTube.