Fuel Surcharge Approved for Bronson Garbage Hauler

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Bronson Town Council members Monday voted to temporarily add a 10 percent fuel surcharge to the bills of residential and commercial customers to help garbage disposal company GFL Environmental recover from the high cost of diesel fuel.

The amendment to the existing contract is subject to review by Town Attorney Steven Warm and by the council itself. GFL representative Skip McCall said he would send a copy of the amended contract to Warm. The council was under no obligation to amend its contract.

Residential customers currently pay $6.60 per month for garbage pickup. McCall said their bills will rise by 66 cents.

“We understand the sensitivity of this. Sometimes these things are difficult to discuss,” McCall said.

Warm advised the council it didn’t have to amend its contract.

“It’s not in the contract. You are not obligated to do anything,” Warm said.

Mayor Robert Partin said the council is aware on a personal and business level of how high fuel prices have risen at the pump.

In June of 2021, the cost of diesel fuel was $3.178 per gallon.

“Today’s fuel cost is now $5.736 which equates to an 80 percent increase over the past 12 months,” said Kevin Smith, general manager of GFL Waste Southeast in a July 18 letter to Town Manager Susan Beaudet.

McCall said GFL will continue to monitor the cost of fuel every six months and will deduct a percentage from the rates based on the amount of the reduction in price.

Should diesel prices drop below $3.90 to $3.71 a gallon the company would reduce the 10 percent increase by 2 percent. The company will continue to reduce its rate increase as the price of diesel drops, McCall said.

Increasing Manager’s Spending Authority

The council approved increasing the spending authority of Beaudet from $1,000 to $2,500. She had asked for a $5,000 cap on her spending authority.

Council members said she would need written approval from Partin if she needs to spend between $2,500 and $5,000 on an emergency basis. He can give her approval by email, a letter, or by resolution.

Beaudet said she has learned from experience that sometimes she needs to purchase an item for city operations that exceeds the original $1,000 of spending authority she was originally given.

Council members didn’t want to see her spending authority increased to the full $5,000.

Councilman Jason Hunt initially said he was willing to go as high as $2,000, but “$5,000 without any kind of council approval is kind of high.”

Public Works Director Curtis Stacy won council approval to purchase two tractor tires for the town’s backhoe for a total cost of $1,800. He said Beaudet could have bought the tires if her spending authority had been higher. Instead, he had to bring the expenditure to the council for approval.

Partin didn’t like Beaudet’s original request for $5,000 of spending authority without council approval. He said the council has two meetings a month to approve purchases.

“As responsible elected officials we have to be serious about watching this,” Partin said.

Partin said Stacy is careful to follow the town’s rules and guidelines when it comes to spending tax dollars for purchases in his department.

“Somebody needs to know,” Stacey responded. “My department – we won’t do that,” he said.

Stacey agreed that the spending guidelines approved for Beaudet would be acceptable from his perspective.

Purchasing Fire Truck

Council members voted to purchase a $344,000 fire truck for Bronson Fire Rescue using a lease purchase form of payment.

The truck will be purchased over a period of 10 years at a 3.874 percent increase. The purchase was approved through Community First National Bank.

The annual payment will be about $41,000.