Tax bills for Greater Greenville Sanitation customers could go up $3 to $4 this fall under a millage rate increase now up to Greenville County Council for consideration.
If passed, the measure would raise the millage rate for the Greenville Sanitation District by 0.5 mills, the equivalent of about $34 annually for an owner-occupied home valued at $200,000, according to the proposal.
That translates to about $3 to $4 more a year for residential customers, said Steve Cole, the district’s executive director.
Cole said the tax increase is needed to keep up with a rise in tipping fees at local landfills and other expenses, including employee pay raises.
“We are behind the eight ball in getting salaries up to a level that’s competitive with the current environment,” Cole said.
The proposed millage increase passed a vote by the County Council’s Finance Committee on July 13 and will head to the full County Council for a public hearing. The hearing date hasn’t yet been announced.
Also part of the proposal is a new recycling fee for customers who opt into the district’s recycling service. The annual fee would be $30 for residential customers and $50 for commercial customers to offset the cost of recycling disposal, according to Cole.
While the district halted its recycling program in mid-March, Cole said recycling will resume once the volume of residential waste the agency is collecting falls back to pre-pandemic levels.
The shift had required the agency to switch its recycling trucks to garbage pickup.
About 17% of the 55,000 households in the district participate in the recycling program. If the proposal is approved, customers would receive letters notifying them of the new fee and choose to opt in or out of the recycling service, Cole said.
