CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Changes are coming for residents in Montgomery and Stewart Counties on the way they pay their Bi-County Solid Waste Management User Fee. County Commissions in both counties have approved a $5.00 user fee across the board.
Since 1998 in Montgomery County the User Fee has appeared on customer’s monthly bills from the Clarksville Department of Electricity (CDE) and Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation (CEMC). Bi-County will be taking over the User Fee billing process on July 1 2015.
Director of Bi-County, Pete Reed, talked about the change. “We are going to be doing the billing ourselves, and CDE and CEMC will no longer be doing that for us. We’ll be sending out a bill to all the residential customers in Montgomery County as well as Stewart County,” Reed said.
Reed added that he thinks one of the biggest things with the new bills is people may not be aware that B-County is sending them out and when they see a bill come in they haven’t seen before they may not recognize it and be tempted to not give it the proper attention.
Starting July 1, Bi-County Solid Waste will send out bills quarterly instead of monthly for the User Fee. The quarterly fee of $15.00, $5.00 per month, will be due by the end of the quarter. If a person prefers, the bill can be paid for the full year which is being encouraged by Bi-County.
Payments can be mailed, made online or set up on a bank draft. If a person is struggling with the payment they can call the User Fee Office to see if other payment options can be worked out. Residents who meet the requirements of their individual county’s may be exempt from the user fee if they are on the tax relief rolls.
The User Fee was put in place in 1997 to help offset the cost of operating convenience centers in Montgomery and Stewart Counties. The fee also goes for processing residential waste and closure costs of the landfill. By law, landfills, must be maintained and monitored for 30 years after they are closed.
If you have questions about the Bi-County Solid Waste User Fee you can stop by the User Fee Office at 3212 Dover Road in Woodlawn, Monday-Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You can also call 931-920-1805 or email bicouserfee@mcgtn.net or visit www.mcgtn.org/bi-county.