Pictured are members of the Panama Village Board, who discussed taking garbage out of their budget at the September meeting. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

PANAMA — The village of Panama is considering removing garbage pickup for village residents from the budget.

Typically, garbage pickup is covered for residents in the yearly spending plan, and the village is considering taking it out to help balance the current budget. Taxes do not currently cover the cost of garbage pickup. The contract renewal date is Sept. 30.

If the village was to remove garbage pickup from the budget, the next question asked to the Village Board was do they buy each household a garbage ticket, or leave it up to everyone to buy their own?

“So, if it was going to be a $100 savings — which it’s not going to be — so now, it boils down to do we give every resident or household a ticket?” Village Mayor William Schneider asked.

Village Trustee Todd Eddy said the board had figured out before that almost half of the money would come back to the village if they did buy the tickets for everyone. A garbage ticket currently costs $80 a year.

“I know it’s a nice convenience, but it’s costing the village money that we don’t have,” Eddy said.

Village Treasurer Larissa Enlow added that before the village began to pick it up everyone used to do it themselves. Problems may come up with the apartments, and the village received a question about it from the owner of Hyde Park, and the tenants who live there. The village discussed holding a public hearing about it, and seeing what the village would think. The board decided to look into it further and reach out to the contract people to work on it.

In other business:

¯ on Aug. 24, an intake line in the empty apartment above the village offices burst, causing a flood in the village hall. The village is now in the process of pulling everything out to dry and seeing what files they can keep and what files need to be thrown away.

¯ the sidewalk project is complete, and so far there have been no complaints.

¯ Harmony Highway Superintendent Bryan Manwaring and the town of Harmony will be working on creek bed maintenance for Little Brokenstraw.