I paid my tiny town bill. City services for the month cost $62.80. Pressurized potable water is $18.90 per month. Arguably a good deal. Certainly not bad. Sewer charges were $24.65. Still okay, I suppose, but if they hadn’t built the sewage treatment plant for their dreamed-of growth that will never happen, we wouldn’t be paying nearly so dearly.
Streetlight $0.75. Not much money, but I would gladly pay a buck a month to have no streetlights. Has anybody heard of flashlights, headlights, porch lights and moonlight? I KNOW y’all haven’t heard of starlight cuz your dang streetlights put up so much ambient light that stars are completely lost to modern city dwellers.
Today’s big complaint, however, is the $18.50 the city is tapping me for trash collection. I’ve lived in places that had single-contractor trash collection and in those who had free market trash. Universally, the free market trash collection settles down to three providers who charge $9.00 per month to take whatever you put out. Ours is lower than some monopolies, but DOUBLE the market rate is still too high.
The extra charges go two places. The most important for the long term health of this system is into local election campaigns. Unsurprisingly, the owners and collection companies contribute significantly to city council re-election campaigns. That’s cheap. The rest is pure pocket money. Win-win-LOSE… guess who’s the caboose.