Yes, revenue is made from the City of Bradford garbage
collection, said City Councilman Bob Onuffer, who heads the
department.

However, City Clerk John Peterson said Monday that is not
necessarily the case, as just looking at the numbers may be
misleading.

“Everyone says you make a ton of money off of refuse
collection,” Peterson said. “But you have to know what all is
involved in the refuse department.”

Going by just the numbers listed in the third quarter budget
report for the city, sanitation revenue for the year to date was
$918,225.34.

Expenses included in the refuse collection section of the budget
report encompass everything relating to wages, as well as office
supplies, gas/oil/fuel, tipping fees, Department of Transportation
regulations and leases on the garbage packers. Expenses for refuse
collection for the year to date were listed as $610,462.01.

Seemingly, that would mean the profit earned in the sanitation
department year-to-date was $307,763.33.

Onuffer, who spoke to The Era last week, said that may be the
case, as he doesn’t deal with the numbers as often as
administration does. He explained in the Third Class City Code, the
government is allowed to collect a reasonable profit from
sanitation collection. And that profit is used to support the city
government.

“It all has to go back to running the city,” Onuffer said.

There are only so many ways the city government can raise money,
and garbage collection is one of them, Onuffer said.

“We’ve got to spread it out with things like that,” he said,
adding that taxes would be higher if not for the amount of money
collected in garbage bills.

“We didn’t raise garbage rates this year,” Onuffer said. The
payment books for 2007 have been ordered and there are no changes
to the $18 fee for trash pickup.

Onuffer referred any explanations of budgetary numbers to
Peterson.

Peterson explained that the numbers in the refuse expenditures
section are somewhat deceiving, as they do not account for all
costs relating to garbage collection.

“Solid Waste borrowing, that’s a huge one,” he said, explaining
that is a cost directly related to the garbage department that
doesn’t appear under the expenditures section of the budget. “It’s
shown under debt principal.”

That $55,840 payment is an annual responsibility of the city to
repay a quarter of a million dollars borrowed to fund a settlement
reached in litigation with the McKean County Solid Waste Authority
in 2004.

“The new building the (Department of Public Works) is in is
shown under debt,” Peterson said, explaining the garbage department
is half of the DPW.

“The refuse director, his salary and benefits, is totally
charged out to streets,” Peterson added, explaining the refuse
department is responsible for half the cost of that as well, as
Gary Alcock heads both departments.

“Half of a mechanic’s salary and benefits is billed out under
streets,” he said. “The cost of the refuse billing office is
charged out to me (in administration).”

Billing and human resources costs associated with garbage are
also charged to the administration. Other costs not included in the
refuse department are insurance for vehicles, all programs such as
picking up white goods and half the utility costs for the DPW
building.

“Those probably total a quarter-of-a-million-dollars right
there,” Peterson said.

“Our budget is set up the way the state tells us to. Debt is set
up under debt. It is not necessarily just what shows under refuse
collection,” he added.