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SCHENECTADY
Council eyeing plans to save money
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    After half a month off, the City Council came back to work Monday to consider new ideas that might save Schenectady $1 million a year or more.
    But as council members expressed hope of using the savings to rescue the 2011 budget, they were warned that both come with steep start-up costs.
    The first is a plan that would halve the city’s recycling costs and might encourage far more residents to stop throwing away paper and plastic. But to fully implement the program, the city would have to spend $1.5 million.
    The second idea is a city-run body shop to repair dump trucks, plows and other heavy equipment. That might bring in “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from other municipalities, Commissioner of General Services Carl Olsen said.
    But it will cost $100,000 a year to run the shop.
    The City Council told Olsen to move forward with both ideas, noting that he has enough extra money is his budget this year to begin the body shop.
    City Council members said he could also start the recycling program on the cheap and save up for the $1.5 million plan that he believes will be the most successful.
    Olsen wants to eliminate almost every rule for recycling. Rather than forcing residents to leaf through a multi-page pamphlet detailing precisely which types of paper, metal and plastic can be recycled, and then separate the acceptable items into different containers, he wants them to simply throw everything into one bin.
    Many companies are now willing to buy unsorted recyclables — and they will take items that city residents can’t recycle now, include yogurt containers, Olsen said.
    Switching to a “single-stream” recycling system for all paper, metal and plastic products could encourage residents to recycle 25 percent of their trash, Olsen said. And because the city would no longer need to run two trucks — one for paper, one for containers — it could cut its recycling costs in half.
    If residents rise to the occasion and actually recycle a quarter of their trash, the change would save the city $750,000 a year, Olsen estimated.
    But the plan comes with a price.
    First, Olsen must negotiate with new recyclers to find one willing to accept unsorted recyclables. The new contract might pay less than the city’s current contract.
    Then, he wants to contract with Recycle Banks to offer residents incentives for recycling. The program gives residents coupons for recycling, based on recordings from a chip placed in each resident’s recycling bin.
    Those bins — and the mechanical arms needed to lift them into the recycling trucks — are not cheap. Buying the bins and upgrading the trucks would cost about $1.5 million, Olsen said. ........................>>>>............................>>>>........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00904&AppName=1

Only in Schenectady would they consider spending $ on RFID in recycle bins when taxpayers in the city are already paying more than anyone else.

I got an idea - how about stopping city trash AND recycling trucks - and allowing residents to contract with a commercial carrier themselves. It would save the homeowners money AND reduce the budget for "garbologists" on the city payroll to $0. Gee. Private enterprise - it might just work.

That won't work MT because the city couldn't keep raising the garbage fee every time they needed more money.

It's a bad idea because it might actually save money and reduce bloated city payrolls. The body shop idea is good but hardly enough to close Stratton's $13 million deficit. The City Council aka {Stratton's rubber stamps} are unable to budget and clueless about municipal finances.

     Open a County Dump. This would create jobs, generate money for the County and stop hauling trash half way across the State. The Erie Boulevard job killer should be trashed. Stop funding the useless DSIC to the tune of $1.8 Million per year. No more handouts to any nonprofit.

Just remember, if it takes two body men to fix a car in a shop that cost $80,000 to outfit in the private sector, it will take 8 body men to do it in a $800,000 shop in the public sector. It is something I know something about too.

Only in Schenectady. The Shitty Council listed to him to build the $35 million garage, hopefully they will be wise enough not to listen to him now.

the more people the city/county employ....the more votes they garner. And yes if they decide to take this route, it will cost the city a bundle!!! Remember.....salaries, benefits and pensions for life!!!!!!!!!!!