The Floyd County Board of Commissioners adopted a new yard debris ordinance which goes into effect immediately: debris needing to be picked up more often than once a quarter or the amount of debris is more than three cubic yards will require payment to the County Public Works department.
Under the new ordinance, yard debris is defined as tree limbs, tree trunks, tree branches or cuttings, shrubs and bushes so long as the same do not exceed 12 feet in length and were removed from the yard area immediately surrounding the property owner’s dwelling house. Yard debris shall not include solid waste, trash or other household garbage nor shall yard debris include pine straw, grass clippings or stumps.
Additionally, under the new ordinance, a homeowner may request pick up of yard debris once every three months. For amounts under 3 cubic yards, the homeowner will not be charged a fee. For amounts from 3 cubic yards to 10 cubic yards, the homeowner must pay a $100 fee and for amounts over 10 cubic yards to 22 cubic yards a fee of $150 will be charged. 22 cubic yards is considered a full load. An additional charge of $150 will be charged for all partial or full loads in excess of 1 load.
“Due to budget and personnel cuts, we were forced to look at which services are essential and which services we should cute, reduce or put on a fee basis,” said Michael Skeen, Public Works Director. “We need to do what we can to maintain our roads, bridges, and drainage structures. We determined that removing limbs and brush was an extra service that does have value to our citizens, but is not required to maintain our infrastructure. We will continue to offer the free service on a limited basis and the rest will be fee based.”
Any homeowner that requests yard debris removal must first contact the Floyd County Public Works Department at 706.236.2495 to complete a work order. At that time a Public Works employee will apprise the homeowner of the yard debris policy and complete a work order. If the amount to be picked up is determined to be more than 3 cubic yards, the homeowner will be notified of the amount to be charged and will be required to pay the fee before the work order will be completed.
For more information on this new ordinance, or to schedule a pickup, please contact the Floyd County Public Works Department at 706.236.2495.
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