Lynchburg may net 141,000 Dollar Profit on Common Goods Fee

In the early morning hours you can hear the trash trucks as they slowly make it up the street. Picking up our trash and junk that we all must get rid of. And each month each household pays for a tag for this service and also the Common Goods fee added to your water and sewage bill. Once before the advent of the trash tag, Lynchburg had two pickups per week, now we are down to one. And now the city charges, it was a big thing back then that the city charged for this service. After all, many communities through out the U. S., still think such a charge is unthinkable. I visited a community in N.C. instead of curb service they knock on your door and take the can from there. To say the least, I was amazed.

The News and Advance reports today that the city council is considering that the Common Goods Fee will generate 141,000 dollars more than the actual cost . The city staffers wants to put the revenue back in the general city budget. Some council members are standing up and making it known that this money should be returned to the citizens. Kudos to Councilmen Seiffert and Gillette for helping keep the city on their toes.

Now, what would be fair? Reduction of the five dollar Common Goods Fee (a fee added to your water and sewage bill) to 4.39 reflecting the actual cost, or a reduction in property taxes. Well the plain and simple fact is not everyone in Lynchburg owns a home. It should be returned to the people who pay for the service. And it definitely should not be lost in the general budget. Thanks to Councilman Seiffert some corrections to the original post were made.

Update: The common goods tax has been decreased to 4.40


(City Council and local issues)