The North Sumter County Utility Dependent District approved a budget Tuesday that will solidify an earlier decision to end recycling in The Villages and send trash to a waste-to-energy facility in Lake County.
NSCUDD, which oversees trash collection in Community Development Districts 1 through 11 in The Villages, includes a 14.75 increase that will be implemented on Oct. 1.
The NSCUDD Board, which is made up of elected Villagers, in June agreed to ship all trash to the Covanta waste-to-energy facility in Okahumpka where it will be burned.
The sanitation budget for 2020-21 will be $15.1 million.
The budget includes $70,000 for “marketing” the changes in the trash collection.
NSCUDD Director Tom Hosken said it will be important to communicate information to residents about the changes in sanitation pickup. He suggested using utility bills as a vehicle for getting the word out.
District Manager Richard Baier said a variety of communication tools will be used, including bulletin boards and the District weekly bulletin.
Some details – such as whether residential pickup will take place once or twice a week – are yet to be ironed out.
The board also approved the North Sumter Utilities Fund proposed budget of $25.2 million which reflects an increase of $1.8 million or 8 percent over the current year.
You can take a look at the NSCUDD budgets at this link: NSCUDD_Proposed_Packet