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   From: absolute-moron@cookcountygov.com   
      
   Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation is spending   
   millions of dollars to provide free garbage collection to   
   multiunit residential buildings no longer eligible for the perk   
   and to nonprofits whose garbage freebie was never authorized,   
   the city’s inspector general concluded Monday.   
      
   In 2000, the City Council formalized a policy that requires city   
   crews to pick up garbage at single family homes and all   
   multiunit buildings that include four-or-fewer units.   
      
   All other buildings were required to hire private scavenger   
   services. But larger buildings receiving free garbage collection   
   before that date were “grandfathered” in until the buildings   
   were sold.   
      
   In his latest audit, Inspector General Joe Ferguson set out to   
   determine whether buildings benefiting from the free garbage   
   collection perk were still authorized to receive it.   
      
   What he found was alarming at a time when one influential   
   alderman has suggested a garbage collection fee to help solve   
   the city’s pension crisis.   
      
   Ferguson concluded that Chicago taxpayers are providing the   
   freebie to 1,393 nonprofit properties, at an annual cost of $3.3   
   million, even though the City Council never authorized the perk.   
      
   “This is ultimately a provision of free service at taxpayer   
   expense provided without legal authority,” the inspector general   
   wrote.   
      
   Ferguson further disclosed that the so-called “grandfather list”   
   of 1,839 multiunit buildings still receiving the garbage freebie   
   at annual cost of $3.27 million was not updated for the six-year   
   period ending in 2013.   
      
   “This list is inaccurate and, over time, may have resulted in   
   millions of wasted city dollars in the provision of city garbage   
   services to multiunit dwellings that, by law, should have been   
   using private commercial garbage collection services,” Ferguson   
   wrote in the audit released Monday.   
      
   Late last year, apparently spurred by the inspector general’s   
   audit, Streets and San joined forces with the Law Department to   
   “review and update” the grandfather list for buildings that may   
   have been sold since the “grandfather clause” was authorized   
   2000, thereby ending the garbage collection freebie, the audit   
   states.   
      
   In a random sample of 116 properties, 46 percent [53 properties]   
   had changed ownership and “were therefore ineligible,” the audit   
   states.   
      
   The inspector general applauded the Emanuel administration for   
   its proactive “efforts to curb waste that has run into the   
   millions extending back many years.” But he argued that those   
   efforts are “time- and resource-intensive and may be   
   impractical” going forward.   
      
   “As long as this obscure program that appears to benefit a   
   select few at general taxpayer expense continues in operation,   
   our audit recommends that [Streets and San] implement a more   
   efficient process,” Ferguson wrote, noting that City Hall is   
   working to develop a self-certification and audit process.   
      
   As for the garbage collection freebie provided to 1,393 non-   
   profits, the inspector general recommended that the perk either   
   be discontinued or authorized by the City Council using a needs-   
   based standard similar to the revised policy in place for free   
   water.   
      
   Emanuel campaigned on a promise to turn off the free water   
   spigot to hospitals, churches, universities and other nonprofits   
   to usher in an era of shared sacrifice needed to confront the   
   city's structural deficit.   
      
   To address aldermanic concerns about struggling parish churches,   
   the mayor subsequently agreed to soften the blow — by offering a   
   60 percent water discount in 2012, 40 percent in 2013 and 20   
   percent in 2014 and beyond.   
      
   Last year, the mayor agreed to yet another compromise—by   
   restoring free water to churches and nonprofits with assets   
   under $1 million, despite warnings that the "cold-hearted"   
   compromise would destroy a safety net of social services.   
      
   The free water issue was a huge political headache for Chicago   
   aldermen — one they’re not eager to revisit eight months before   
   the election.   
      
   Asked Monday whether he agrees with Ferguson’s finding, Ald. Pat   
   O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s City Council floor leader, said, "I   
   really don’t have an opinion as to how I think we ought to   
   proceed. The audit is just out. I want to understand what the   
   repercussions would be."   
      
   http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/ig-says-chicago-   
   wasting-millions-garbage-collection-freebie/mon-06232014-147pm   
      
       
      
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