Fox Chapel officials want to hear some trash talk from their residents.

A survey seeking input on what services to seek in the next garbage collection contract is expected to be launched in mid-June.

The current contract with Vogel Disposal Services features unlimited weekly collection up to the garage door, meaning trash does not need to be dropped off curbside. It expires in February 2026.

Vogel charges the borough. So garbage collection bills are paid for out of tax dollars instead of individual billing.

This year’s trash collection invoice is projected to be $910,200, about $10,000 more than this year. The added expense is not being passed on to property owners.

Maintaining the current service may result in a tax hike, council Vice President Harrison Lauer said at the May 20 council meeting. However, budgetary figures have not been finalized.

The survey was crafted by the borough’s refuse task force, which was established earlier this year.

It’s expected to be mailed out as well as posted on the borough’s website, fox-chapel.pa.us.

Projected deadline to respond to the survey is mid-July.

Draft questions obtained by TribLive are as follows:

• Do you prefer current service with a significant tax increase or a borough shift to curbside?

• If a resident opts for curbside, would they pay extra cost to the supplier for a hybrid service (additional cost for garage door service or additional carts)?

Council President Andrew Bennett commended the task force’s efforts addressing garbage collection more than a year prior to contract expiration.

“We’re well ahead of this, but it takes time to get through this process,” Bennett said. “I think we’re on schedule thanks to Harrison and that subcommittee.”

Lauer said he met with officials from Vogel and Waste Management to discuss trash collection trends and had plans to reach out to other vendors. Those discussions resulted in a few revelations.

Lauer said he was told the cost for the current unlimited service is most likely to double, and the market has been shifting to automated collections with garbage bins.

Several nearby communities went with the latter option the past few years and saw garbage bills go up by a few dollars compared to larger increases projected with unlimited collection.

Borough Manager Gary Koehler said via email the borough projects maintaining the current service would cost an additional $1 million. The current real estate tax rate is 2.95 mills.

Sharpsburg saw its garbage collection bills go up somewhat after approving a new contract with Waste Management in December 2022. That contract runs through 2026. New bins were distributed in 2023 for automatic curbside collection.

O’Hara officials at a Dec. 6, 2022 workshop meeting approved a new contract with Waste Management through the North Hills Council of Governments with a shift to automated collection. It runs 2023-26 with an option year for 2027.

Meeting minutes show maintaining the township’s previous service would have cost an additional $1.5 million in the first year alone.

A survey was sent out to township residents in early 2023 to ask what size bins they wanted. The standard trash bin was 96 gallons.

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