The City Council will hold off for a few more weeks before telling city nonprofit agencies whether they have to pay to haul their garbage to the dump.
"It's costing us money," Councilwoman Pam Ladd said Tuesday night during the City Council meeting.
The council will take up the matter again next week during one of its committee meetings, officials said.
The council voted 6-0 Tuesday to defer passing four resolutions related to nonprofit agencies that own thrift stores and haul their unused materials to the city dump.
The council approved an ordinance in March that says nonprofits must start paying tipping fees at the city's landfill unless they receive a waiver. The ordinance, which took effect July 1, only effects nonprofits that own thrift stores, bring their refuse to the dump and use their own vehicles.
A controversy broke out about the fees, with some nonprofit agencies saying they cannot afford to pay them, and city officials saying they're a necessary cost for doing business.
Councilwoman Deborah Scott said Tuesday she held concerns about how the city would police what is a thrift store.
"It would be easy for any nonprofit in town to set aside a closet and be covered," she said.
NONPROFIT FEESFour nonprofits with thrift stores asked for a waiver of fees they would have to pay to the city landfill to dump refuse. The nonprofits and the estimated annual fees are:* Samaritan Center: $15,504* Bethel Bible Village: $1,892* Salvation Army: $1,126* Chattanooga Area Food Bank: $383Source: Chattanooga
John Diliberto, director of operations for the Salvation Army, said the nonprofits act as filters, sorting through what can be reused and what goes to the landfill. If they didn't do that, he said, many items would be collected curbside by the city's Public Works Department and hauled to the dump, costing taxpayer money for delivering and manpower.
"Thrift stores are doing the city a service by taking this," he said.
However, on Tuesday, some nonprofits backed off asking for a waiver. Clare Sawyer, executive director of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, said the fee was not a "big impact to us."
"We don't have a lot to lose," she said.
City records estimate the Food Bank would possibly pay about $383 in landfill fees this year.
Council members asked Public Works officials if they should grant the waivers. Steve Leach, administrator for the department, said it depends upon whether the city wants to raise the additional money.
"In the past, we've absorbed the costs - if that's a cost your willing to pay you can," he said.