Consolidating and privatizing services is something local governments have been looking hard at doing. But the Solid Waste Disposal Board for three Eastern Ohio counties just went the other way.
Columbiana County Commissioner Mike Halleck is on the Columbiana-Carroll-Harrison Sold Waste District board. He says privatized services often cost less. But, when the contract for recycling for the three- county area came due the vendor wanted more money. The board put a pencil to the numbers and found $70,000 a year savings if the counties took over the work.
“Now, that’s not to say that a couple of years from now, or if they came back in the next week or so and said ‘you know, that $70,000 a year you wanted to save, we can get there,’ I would recommend that we convene a meeting and we give it to ‘em.”
Halleck says his county has been particularly active in privatization and has saved millions. But doing what’s best for the taxpayers is the idea, and that sometimes means going the other way.
