The city of Selma’s Ad-Hoc Committee met Monday afternoon to discuss ways to collect fees for garbage collection.

The city has until Jan. 31, 2015, to resolve its garbage issue. Advanced Disposal, who currently collects garbage in the city, opted not to renew its contract earlier this year due to a large amount of customers not paying their bills.

Selma City Council President Corey Bowie said there are an estimated 6,000 Advanced Disposal customers in the city, and around half of them are not paying their bill.

The city recently sent out requests for proposals to nine companies in hopes of finding a new company to take over garbage collection or work out a new contract with Advanced Disposal.

The RFPs give companies two options. One option is to collect the fees themselves, and the other option is to bill the city and have the city collect fees from customers.

With RFPs due back on Sept. 17, the committee wants to stay ahead of schedule and get ideas in mind to tell companies when their proposals come in.

The meeting started with a list of ideas, and at the end of it two possibilities were left — and increase in property tax or a new half-cent sales tax.

“The only thing that we probably can do that would be advantageous for the council is either to look at the property tax or the half-cent sales tax,” Bowie said.

“Those are basically the only two options.”

The committee discussed the ideas that included tying the garbage bill in with water and sewage fees, utility fees and other options. The idea of the water bill was quickly crossed out because Selma Water Works is a separate entity from the city.

The committee discussed the idea of the city owning the water board, but Mayor George Evans quickly nixed the idea because of millions of dollars worth of bonds in for Selma Water Works. Evans said the city would not be able to take on the debt.

Councilman Greg Bjelke questioned how collecting garbage fees in the past went when it was tied to the water bill, but the fee was only included with the water bill. The water bill did not have any leverage on the garbage bill.

Councilman Bennie L. Tucker put the idea of a one-cent cigarette tax on the table, much like state legislators have to try to help the state’s general fund budget.

“I believe a one-cent cigarette tax would make it and get us over the hump. We could take that money and do anything we want with it,” Tucker said. “If the state can do it, we can do it.”

Bowie said the idea was possible, but he didn’t think it would generate enough revenue to pay the cost of garbage collection.

With other ideas ruled out, the committee agreed to set up town hall meetings to discuss the two possibilities with citizens.

“We’re going to throw it out there to the public and see what they warm up to. My personal favorite is the property taxes, and I like the idea of splitting it up into six-month increments,” Bjelke said.

“It spreads things out and doesn’t put a burden on our tax and licensing department all at one time of the year. It’s the only way it is going to work.”

If the property tax is increased to take care of the cost of garbage, it will take a vote of the people, but unless the city holds a special election, that option will have to wait until the next general election.

If the city goes the half-cent sales tax route, that can be passed through a council vote.

Regardless of what route the city goes, Bowie said it is going to take a lot of work.

“The key is that the citizens are going to have to have some ownership in this, and it is going to be the council’s decision to come up with a outline and details and come up with a marketing strategy to get the citizens to get on board with us,” Bowie said.

“It is something we’re going to have to do as a whole to roll up our sleeves, and it is going to have to be a collaborative effort between city government, the department heads and the citizens of Selma to rectify this problem.”