A letter from Aurora City Attorney Jeff Stratman regarding the city's change in trash removal service to begin in 2013:

The City of Aurora is changing garbage collection service from Rumpke to Best Way Disposal beginning January 1, 2013.  The City and/or Best Way plan to issue some advertising or direct mail to Aurora residents next week, but I want to start to help spread the word by the ease of electronic email.

Beginning in January, all garbage pickup for the entire City of Aurora will be on Wednesdays.  The first pickup Best Way will provide will be on Wednesday, January 2, 2013.  Garbage will no longer be picked up on any day other than Wednesday.  This is a change for some residents who were being picked up on Fridays, and is a change for some areas in the historic downtown area that were getting picked up twice per week.  Beginning in January, all pickups will be once per week and always on Wednesdays (except for Holidays).

Bestway will pick up any number of cans you set out (to a “reasonable” limit) and will pick up one large item per week as long as the driver can pick it up and fit it into the truck (no appliances with CFC’s, such as fridge or A/C).  The city’s ordinance requires that you set your garbage out at curbside in an enclosed can or tied up garbage bag.  You should be able to use the same can(s) and same location where you set your garbage out for Rumpke pickup.  The type of can doesn’t matter.  If the can you own is a brown 96-gallon Rumpke can, it will be picked up by Best Way.  If you rent a can from Rumpke for $3.50 per month, I don’t know yet whether Rumpke will still rent that can to you, or not.  If not, you will be responsible for purchasing your own can, or you can call Best Way at 800-354-1830 to see if they will rent you a similar can.  You can also purchase garbage cans from a local retailer, such as Aurora Lumber Company.

All residents and small businesses that receive city provided garbage service will be charged $5 per month, per unit, beginning in January.  This is also new.  The charge will be added as a line-item on your utility bill each month.  If you own multiple units, you will be charged $5 multiplied by the number of units you own.  If you are a landlord who has more than four units in one multi-family location, you have the option to contract with a private provider for dumpster service located on your property and you will not be billed the $5 monthly city charge.  If you are a landlord or business owner who already has privately provided dumpster service you will not be charged the $5 monthly city charge.  However, to be exempt from the $5 city charge, you must provide a copy of your private dumpster contract to the Aurora Utility Department at the beginning of each year. 

Any unit that is not serviced by a privately provided dumpster will be charged $5 per month whether you chose to take advantage of the city provided garbage service or not.  At $5 per month, the city is still subsidizing another $5 per month for your garbage service that costs the city approximately $10 per unit during the new five-year contract term with Best Way.  This new service charge was adopted by Ordinance of the Aurora City Council after much thoughtful discussion and debate and several public meetings where the public was invited to express opinions on the issue.  Also, Aurora was one of only a handful of cities statewide that wasn’t charging anything to its residents for garbage service, and the average cost to residents in neighboring cities and towns in Southeast Indiana is around $10 per month.

By Indiana law, the city was required to request public bids for a new contract for garbage service.  Three companies submitted bids and Best Way was the lowest bidder.  By using a competitive bidding process, the overall contract price for garbage service was significantly reduced from what was being paid for the same service in recent years, which allowed the city council the flexibility to adopt a $5 per month charge, rather than $8 that was being discussed prior to the bidding process.

Again, please help by spreading the word to your Aurora friends and neighbors that all garbage pickup in the city will be only on Wednesdays beginning January 2, 2013.

Change is difficult, and we will no doubt have a few “hiccups” to deal with in the early stages with a new provider and a new service charge.  Please remain patient and feel free to contact me at my phone number or email below with any questions or concerns, or contact the Aurora Utility Department.  We will all do our best to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Thank You,

Jeff Stratman

Aurora City Attorney

P.O. Box 178

Aurora, IN  47001

(812) 584-0386 phone

(877) 848-5270 fax

stratman.jeff@gmail.com