A bill involving Shawnee County Solid Waste services heads to Kansas Legislature tomorrow and it could affect your trash pickup, or halt it altogether.
Two bills were presented to the Shawnee County Commission today that appeared to come as a surprise.
"It happened so fast that I haven't had a chance to even research it," said Rich Eckert, Shawnee County Counselor.
One of the bills might make it easier for private trash pickup business to compete with county refuse services statewide.
Eckert told the commission this is a "pretty painful bill" because it could halt county trash pickup if a competitor offers a lower price.
"They have in there some sort of a couple of poison pills," Eckert said. "If we choose to ignore that law and continue, everything - all of our equipment - becomes taxable."
Service might also come at a higher price.
"It's laws of...supply and demand," Eckert said. "The price is going to go up over that course of time so even though they put us out of business with an artificially low price, which this bill looks like it would do, that price would not stay low over time."
One private waste service owner said, when you sort it out, people just want to know they have a choice.
"When you turn on your water at the city, they could ask you, 'Hey, do you have trash service yet?' And if you say no, they can say, 'Hey, well we can provide that for you if you would like.' Well, that's good but does the homeowner know that they have a choice?," said Steve Ditch, Jr., co-owner of Ditch & Associates Trash Service.
Although he says he'd like to know more about the bill, Ditch said he's not too concerned about it.
"Every day my business grows and we are very fortunate in that," Ditch said.
Recent county curbside recycling plans are also at risk if the bill passes.
"Without the haulers being out there on the road - the Shawnee County efuse haulers - there's no ability to help with the recycling," Eckert said. "The way we've designed it is you pay one bill for both of those services. If one of those services goes away, it's impossible to keep up with the other part of that service."
If passed, the bill could leave more than 60 percent of Shawnee County residents with trash piling up while the details are ironed out.
Eckert is set to testify on behalf of the Shawnee County Commission during Tuesday's Kansas Legislative session regarding this bill. He will also testify on a bill that proposes a two-term limit for all Kansas county commissioners.
