Dive Summary:

• The city council in Helena, Alabama voted unanimously to solicit bids for privatizing the municipal waste collection services due to rising costs associated with the current pick-up.
• From equipment and maintenance to fuel and vehicle repairs, the city's expenditures associated with collection are costly and are contributing to Helena's rising city debt.
• Helena is looking to privatization as a more efficient operation, in addition to a solution to growing expenses and liability costs the city is facing.

From the article:

"Every city around us and the county are no longer in the garbage business for a reason, and I suspect it is because the private companies can offer a more efficient operation with more resources and equipment to better serve those communities," Hall said.

"The last thing I want to do is raise rates for the service we currently provide, but that is becoming a reality that we will need to look at soon if we stay in the garbage business," he said.

"I would like to retain the full-time employees that would be affected by approval of a contract service and reassign them to areas that are already short-staffed such as parks and street departments."