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Committee Backs Mayor's Budget Plan After Tweak To Garbage Collection Fee

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel's $7.8 billion budget passed its first major test on Monday, as the City Council's Budget Committee endorsed the spending plan after the mayor made a slight change to satisfy aldermen who fear his proposed garbage collection fee would be used to pay for other things.

As part of an amended budget unanimously endorsed by the Budget Committee, the $62.7 million in revenue from the fee would be deposited in a separate fund, which the mayor's aides assured aldermen would go to pay only for hauling trash.

"Revenue from the proposed garbage fee, and a portion of the expenses associated with the collection of garbage in the city of Chicago has been put into its own fund. You'll see that to clearly reflect the fact that those fees are being used for garbage collection," Budget Director Alexandra Holt said.

Several aldermen have said they want to see the proposed $9.50 monthly per-household garbage collection fee trashed, but Ald. John Arena (45th) wasn't one of them.

"Personally, I think it's actually a good proposal. I think the way we implement it's going to be important. I'd like to see that go into an enterprise fund," he said.

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Ald. David Moore (17th) was among those aldermen who have voiced opposition to the garbage fee, but he said he realizes the city's dilemma.

"This is a tough, tough, tough budget here, and there's negotiations, and you don't want to be a person of 'no,' and we're willing to work with the administration to do whatever we can for the best for our city, but yet listen to our constituents," he said.

Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th) said he doesn't like the trash collection fee either.

"It's bad enough that we're proposing the largest property tax increase that we've ever survived, and it's bad enough to try to explain that to your constituents when you've got more fees; additional fees," he said.

However, Reboyras acknowledged the city needs the revenue.

Some aldermen have suggested the garbage fee should be based on the volume of trash collected at each household, but others have said that would discriminate against bigger families, and encourage some people to dump their garbage in neighbors' bins.

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