Council Member David G. Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) was joined today on the steps of City Hall by Council colleagues and representatives from the UJA-Federation of New York and the Human Services Council to announce the introduction of a bill preventing the city from moving forward with its plan to charge non-profit groups for trash and recycling collection. The plan by the administration to charge for trash pickup will cost non-profit groups about $17 million annually at a time when charitable giving is at its lowest levels in four decades.

“This misguided policy amounts to kicking non-profit organizations while they are down. These groups provide vital services to our community and many are struggling to make payroll a result of the recession. Trash and recycling collection is a basic municipal service that the city should provide to these important institutions, which work each and every day to make New York the great city that it is. They deserve our support and thanks, instead of new taxes they simply cannot afford,” said Council Member Greenfield.
“Non-profits do great work in this city. We should not reward this work with unreasonable fees. There are ways to raise revenue without going after groups that are overwhelmingly struggling. Non-profits are squeezed for funds due to cuts in government funding and donations. This bill is to ensure they can continue providing essential services to our communities,” said Council Member Fernando Cabrera, who is a prime sponsor of this legislation.

“The city’s most vulnerable populations are suffering and the proposal to charge non-profit organizations for trash and recycling collection would be a further burden on these already fiscally strained groups. For the past few years, the city has been forced to reduce the amount of funding allocated to non-profit organizations that provide vital services such as after school programs, food pantries, and senior services. This is the wrong way to treat these organizations and I encourage my colleagues to support this bill,” said Council Member Leroy Comrie.

“The recession has hit non-profits the hardest as private and public funds have dried up. Assessing them further charges will not only hurt them even more, but adversely impact the New Yorkers who depend on them,” said Council Member James Vacca.

“This smoke and mirrors approach to hit the pockets of community organizations that are already struggling to be viable and provide quality services is just one more covert effort to camouflage the administration’s claim that it is not raising taxes on entities that are least able to pay,” said Council Member Debi Rose.

“The local government depends heavily on non-profit organizations to help weave the safety net for New Yorkers. These are institutions that vary in size and infrastructure and that are not in the business of making a profit but rather exist to support and advocate for the needy, the vulnerable and the disenfranchised. Non-profit organizations serve as our key allies in the protection of our city’s well-being. Taxing them for garbage pickup is an insult – plain and simple,” said Council Member Robert Jackson.

“Non-profit groups provide very important services to many of the neediest New Yorkers and we are proud to reward those non-profits for their work. I am very happy to support the legislative effort of Council Members Greenfield and Cabrera to ensure that non-profit organizations do not incur additional costs this year in the form of city fees for trash collection. This legislation supports the protection of religious organizations, youth recreation groups and cultural and social institutions from burdensome fees for basic city services. In these difficult economic times it is just cynical to ask non-profit groups to pay fees that we know they can’t afford,” said Council Member Stephen Levin.

“Not-for-profit organizations do much of the great work needed to keep this city going. In fact, in many cases, they take on functions the city cannot- such as after-school and senior citizen programming. To now charge these organizations will not only cut in to their already limited budgets, but will also limit even further their programmatic capabilities,” said Council Member Ruben Wills.

“At a time of significant loss of government funding we believe that charging nonprofit agencies for trash collection will further erode the ability of our sector to meet the health, human service, education and cultural needs of New Yorkers,” said Ron Soloway, Managing Director, Government and External Relations, UJA-Federation of New York.

“Instituting a fee on non-profit organizations for garbage collection is just another example of the city nickel and diming organizations that are providing crucial services to New York’s most vulnerable populations. The Human Services Council commends Council Member Greenfield for introducing legislation that values services over fees,” said Michael Stoller, Executive Director, Human Services Council.

This new policy would impact thousands of non-profit groups around the city, including colleges, churches, museums, social service groups, cultural institutions and athletic programs in nearly every community. Following this morning’s press conference, the bill was introduced at the Stated Council meeting and referred to committee for hearings.

(YWN Desk – NYC)