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White Bear Lake and North St. Paul each contract with one hauler to offer garbage and recycling service to residents. Little Canada contracts with four haulers that each serves a specific zone in the City. Vadnais Heights contracts with a consortium of haulers and the members divide up the service zones. Some cities bill residents themselves others have the haulers bill residents. Officials at these cities say they get very few complaints about garbage service. Joel Hansen City Manager with Little Canada says he takes maybe two or three calls a year from residents wonder- ing why the City has organized collection. Hansen told the Committee that once he explains the benefits of organized collection the residents are satisfied. Mark Sather City Manager of White Bear Lake says every time a contract comes up the City takes a"zero based budgeting" philosophy, essentially charging themselves to prove the City should continue with organized collection. Every time, the answer comes back "yes." In addition to the benefits listed previously, Sather says White Bear benefits because with guaran- teed garbage collection there is less storage of excessive amounts of garbage, and the system can support related public policy choices (e.g. discourage grass clipping generation by charging a higher yard waste per bag charge in the summer months). Sather believes organized collection answers the concerns of those who would prefer to choose their own hauler. For the price conscious, it delivers about the lowest ra�es possible under any system. For the service conscious, the contract with haulers allows for walk up service and subsidies for the disabled. For those looking for extra services, the contract allows for collection of bulky items at a set rate. 60-Gallon Rate Comparison Little Canada North St. Paul Roseville Vadnais Heights White Bear Lake White Bear Twsp $ 9.77 $11.58 $14.46 $12.48 $10.60 $11.86 (note Roseville's rate does not include the cost of recycling that is included in the other's rates) Committee members assumed that competition in an open hauling system would ensure residents got the lowest rates. However a survey of Ramsey County cities shows that Roseville residents pay $1.50-$4 more a month on their waste collection bills compared to cities with organized collection. Additionally the cities with organized collection include recycling in their fee. Roseville residents pay an additional $1.75 a month for recycling service. Making comparable Roseville fees $3.25-$5.75 a month higher. Cities with organized collection can also retain the opt- out provision Roseville currently has. For instance Little Canada exempts residen�s who are out of town more than 30 days, business owners who take their residential trash and dispose of it in their company's dumpster, and employees who are allowed to dispose of their residential trash in their company's dumpster. Little Canada also offers a senior discount. We have seen in Roseville that that would be popular. Roseville gives a senior discount on water bills and currently 25.8% of water ac- counts receive the senior discount. The City of Hutchinson uses its system of organized collection to steer residents toward reducing ..