Slatington borough council awarded the next garbage contract to its current hauler County Waste, during a special meeting Monday night.

Borough Manager Dan Stevens said County Waste provided the lowest bid of the four received by the municipality.

“The top bid was over a million a year for that contract,” he said.

The highest bid was Whitetail Disposal in Perkiomenville at $3,019,774. County Waste, headquartered in Clifton Park, New York, with local offices, bid the lowest at $1,474,904 for three years.

Waste Management, headquartered in Houston, Texas, with local offices, came in second highest at $2,487,152. And J.P. Mascaro and Sons in Nanticoke provided a bid of $2,172,960.

“The cost is going up threefold,” said council member David Schnaars.

Residents have been paying $50 per quarter per dwelling. The new rate is going to go up to $80 per quarter per dwelling.

Stevens explained that residents used to pay more for their garbage hauling than they are now. Prior to County Waste, that hauler charged the borough $350,000 per year. Residents were paying $66 per quarter per dwelling. The current five-year contract with County Waste was $174,500 per year for a total of $872,500. The council was able to pass on the savings to the residents and dropped the cost down to $50.

“Everyone got a break for five years,” Stevens said.

The new contract includes weekly trash pickup and recycling pickup every other week. Stevens said that the current contract has recycling pickup every other week, but County Waste has been picking it up weekly on their own.

In other business, the council accepted the highest bid for a 1997 GMC 3500 dump truck placed for sale on Municibids.

“We got quite a few bidders on it. We had it on for three weeks,” said Council President Bryon Reed.

The winning bid was $7,600 to a man in Downingtown.

“The bid went up $2,000 in the last 30 minutes,” Stevens said after the meeting.

The council also approved the roofing work done by Joel Alpha Roofing in Allentown. Alpha Roofing did work on the maintenance garage for $1,800 and work on the roof of the fire department for $6,200. Stevens said he began the work on Friday after Thanksgiving and worked through the weekend to complete it by Monday evening. The borough plans to use Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the American Rescue Plan to pay for the work.