Posted: Dec. 2, 2009

Muskego — The bearish economy will not rip away Muskego's bi-weekly recycling pickups in favor of once-a-month pickups.

Muskego officials had inquired of its disposal provider, Veolia Environmental Services, whether going to one recycling pickup would reduce costs. But Veolia officials said it would not.

That is because the workers were already on staff and the equipment is ready, said Alderwoman Tracy Snead, chairwoman of the Public Works Committee. Veolia also did not want to encourage residents to throw recyclables away because they run out of room in their recycling containers, she said. The company makes money on recycling, Simpson said.

But the city is delaying a decision on opening a second yard waste drop-off site closer to the southern part of the city. In these times of pinching every penny, the city will hold off on a decision while it tries to judge public support for a second site. The cost of adding a site would be $15,362. The current site is on College Court just south of College Avenue.

The Common Council approved renewing its refuse and recycling collection contract with Veolia last week. It was the low bidder out of three bids received for 2010 to 2014. The contract is for $836,517 annually.

The contract now includes provisions for cost-of-living increases and for fuel surcharges, if needed. Both are becoming common practice, city engineer David Simpson said.

The cost-of-living increase will be at least 2.5 percent per year. That could rise to a maximum of 6 percent. It will be tied to official estimates of cost of living.

The cost to the city also will go up if average monthly fuel prices climb higher than $3 per gallon.

Including provisions for cost of living and fuel increases has the city sharing in the risk, which gives the company more leeway to offer a lower bid, Simpson said.