South Tucson will seek garbage-service bids, using borrowed trucks for now

It is has been nearly two weeks since South Tucson employees began picking up residential trash in borrowed surplus garbage trucks.

The once-a-week trash collection is a temporary measure as city officials prepare to release a formal call for proposals to find someone to offer curbside garbage service to roughly 1,200 customers.

One candidate could be the city of Tucson — which already offers residential trash service around the 1.2-square-mile city of South Tucson.

Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik offered his support of the plan, suggesting the city’s Environmental Services Department could be the right fit for a long-term solution in South Tucson.

At the very least, the trash containers being leased from the Tucson department by South Tucson are already in place. The city would need to set up a regular schedule trash pickup and begin billing its new customers.

Interim South Tucson City Manager Veronica Moreno confirmed she has spoken about the possibility of Tucson taking over residential trash collection and is open to the possibility.

However, it is one of many possibilities as Moreno said several private firms have already contacted her office to inquire about a possible contract.

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State procurement laws require South Tucson to make an open call for bids on the long-term contract, something Moreno said is in the works.

She expects to issue a request for proposals in the coming weeks with a new vendor brought on board by the end of the year.

Tucson officials won’t comment on whether they will bid for the contract but one thing is for certain, if the city does bid on the contract, South Tucson residents will be paying more for the new service.

South Tucson officials had hoped to keep the bills to about $12 a month, while customers in Tucson are paying between $15 to $16.75 monthly.

The current plan of renting the equipment and having South Tucson staffers work the garbage trucks isn’t viable either.

“We can’t afford it,” said Lourdes Aguirre, the finance director for South Tucson.

The six-month agreement between the two cities was formalized last week and was in response to Waste Management severing its contract with South Tucson over a reported unpaid debt of more than $300,000.