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Resident urges Lewisville to attach trash charge to water bill; council asks staff to gather options from Kimble
Summary
A resident, Mr. Phillips, urged Lewisville to change how trash service is billed under its single-hauler contract with Kimble so trash charges appear on the municipal water/sewer bill; city staff said prior council direction and bid results led to the current arrangement and agreed to request information from Kimble and peer cities about mid-contract changes.
During the public-comment portion of the Feb. 2 Lewisville City Council meeting, resident Mr. Phillips requested the city examine how trash service is billed under the single-hauler contract with Kimble and asked that trash charges be placed on the city's water and sewer bill rather than billed directly by the vendor.
"I discovered that Kimble has the authority to bill us uh based on property transfer so they can just send me a trash bill," Mr. Phillips said, arguing Lewisville is unusual in not bundling the trash charge with the municipal water/sewer bill and that other communities attach the trash charge to utility billing.
City Manager Andy responded that an earlier council decision, based on community feedback at the time, chose not to tie trash billing to the water and sewer account and that the Kimble bid indicated it would be more expensive for the city to perform billing. "That was the position of council uh that based on feedback they had received, they did not want to have the sewer or the trash bill rather tied to the water and sewer bill," Andy said.
Councilmembers and staff discussed whether the contract could be changed mid-term and whether doing so would affect rates. Staff agreed to ask Kimble and to report back with information on whether a billing-format change is permissible under the current contract and, if so, what the cost difference would be. Council did not take formal action at the meeting beyond directing staff to gather information.
The exchange highlighted resident frustration visible on social media and a council interest in balancing convenience for customers against potential contract or rate impacts.
