Spring Pass for current subscribers begins May 17th
No registration required
$99 Early Bird registration opens June 1st, 9am
No pre-registration allowed
Limited to first 3,000 subscribers
*Pricing based on 20,000 sqft lot*
*Price varies for over-size, double lots, and leaf volume*
St. Joseph County Indiana
Curbside Leaf Collection Program
St. Joseph County Leaf Program History & Overview
In the beginning ..........
The St. Joseph County Highway Dept began the Leaf Program in 1993 with just 3 leaf vacs. By 2002 it grew to a 20 vac fleet that was struggling to keep up with program demands due to growing leaf volume, loss of tip sites, rain & snow during collections in November and conflicts with higher priority road requirements including winter preparation to prevent highway deterioration that would cost millions for accelerated road replacement due to winter freeze/thaw damages.
The program required all 75 highway department employees plus up to 45 additional temp workers. The temp workers would last just 24-48 hrs when rain & snow arrived in early November. Hiring was a merry go round of always changing and training temps for cold, dirty and wet curb crew positions. The final year the highway dept performed the program in 2002, the county failed to complete even a two pass program.
Any northern leaf program is always in conflict with one of the primary responsibilities for any highway department, snow plowing and deicing to keep roads clear and safe. One day they are doing leaves and the next day they must change over the entire fleet for snow and ice. Then switch the entire fleet back to leaves after running 24/7 shifts for snow & ice.
Leaf programs require tip sites that require high capacity haulers to transport from the tip sites to licensed compost facilities. Due to a variety of reasons, tip sites turnover frequently and are difficult to maintain and replace. Frequently, excess fleet, labor or time to transport the leaves from those sites in a timely manner is unavailable.
Outsourcing Choking Smoke Control
All of these reasons plus more are why the program was outsourced in 2003. The program was discontinued due to funding shortfalls. Residents resorted to widespread burning from 2005-2012. In the months of October - December St. Joe County had a constant heavy layer of choking smoke each night hanging in the air.
In 2013, resident outcries regarding the choking smoke from spring & fall leaf burning caused the county to restart the program. Unfortunately, the county budget never allowed the program to achieve success from a public perspective as it was only funded at 60% of what was required for a complete program that would satisfy residents.
The county experienced extraordinary growth during the construction boom which caused the program volume to go from 2002 volume of 60,000+/-cyds to a high 2015 volume of over 140,000+cyds. The program more than doubled in size but the county budget allowed for only enough vac crews to collect at the 2002 volume level. When the program restarted, 3 fall passes were budgeted, which were reduced to just two fall passes a short time later to reduce costs even further due to economic restraints.
CV19 Provides the Program Cure
Necessity is the mother of invention. In Jan 2019 it was determined that the program was critical to air quality, health and safety and that the only way to get a successful county-wide program was to commit the required funding over a period that allowed the program long term stability. The county was ready to commit to a 10 year service agreement just as it had committed to 10 years at a time for waste recycling. Then covid hit us.
In Feb 2019, the CV19 Respiratory Pandemic swept the country killing over 585,000 people and governments faced with unexpected CV19 related costs were concerned CV19 would bankrupt local governments. The 10 year plan was suspended but everyone knew that choking smoke could not be allowed anymore or risk further resident health issues related to CV19 and a myriad of other health and respiratory distress concerns.
A Leaf Task force was formed by Commissioner Fleming and met six times. The task force was compiled of a wide variety of govt and resident persons and the current subsidized program was the result. The task force noted that if residents were contributing any money for a subscription, the subsidized program needed to provide guaranteed results that could only be attained through a 4-6 pass program. The vendor had to have the fleet and proven experience performing the work so residents could trust the subscription provider in all kinds of weather. The task force understood that landscapers may have small vacs that work in dry conditions but to guarantee service the vendor would need to have a fleet of municipal vacs that cost over $ 80,000.00 each to purchase new and require heavy CDL driven vehicles to safely tow the vacs. In a cold and snowy fall, residents that decided to try alternatives would return when their contractor did not perform because they did not have the required fleet for the task.
The county would subsidize the program cost so that residents could purchase subscriptions at a much lower cost than open market prices for a Guaranteed and Trusted provider.
Home Advisor online noted the average cost for 2021 is $ 374.00 and has increased 8% +/- annually. Early Bird subsidized subscriptions started at $99.00 and sold out overnight last year. The initial subsidized program was a huge success. Subscribers gave rave reviews. The program cost less than 30% of what the fully funded program would cost and only residents with leaves would participate. Subscribers participated in every collection pass because they were now invested in the program themselves.
Long Term Solution
The St. Joseph County Leaf Program is provided to assist residents in the unincorporated areas of the county dispose of their leaves most efficiently by raking them to their curbs and having them collected by bulk vac. The Program was funded 100% by St. Joseph County until 2020 due to CoVid. In 2020 the county began subsidizing the leaf program so that residents with a high volume of leaves had an affordable alternative to the burn ban, especially in light of CV19 respiratory concerns. In 2020, CoVid respiratory distress became the primary impetus for a new zero tolerance burn ban. The burn amnesty period from the past was eliminated and multiple agencies are now empowered to enforce initial fines for burning of up to $1,000.00 per incident. The County has now renewed the subsidized agreement for three more years with two (3) year renewals thereafter for a total of (9) years.
Affordable Subsidized Subscriptions
Residents must now subscribe to the St. Joseph County curbside collection service or find alternative methods to dispose of their leaves. Subscriptions can be purchased year round but Early Bird rates are the lowest cost way to subscribe. The county has provided specially subsidized Early Bird rates that are steeply discounted from regular active season rates. The biggest resident concern was not enough Early Bird subscriptions to start. Early Bird subscriptions have been doubled now from 1,500 to 3,000 subscriptions available. These rates are limited to the first 3,000 subscribers out of over 33,000 eligible households. See the Subscribe page at www.sjclp.com for details.
Collection Pass Frequency
The resident task force members believed that a high quality, no compromise program should be available to resident subscribers. Some residents thought three passes were enough in the fall without a Spring pass. The desired frequencies was up to 4 in the fall with a Spring pass to collect all late falling leaves. The subscription includes up to Five passes. Although some residents wanted to try to reduce costs by eliminating passes down to 3 total, 99% of subscribers had leaves out for every single pass. Resident participation and usage has dramatically increased for every pass as residents have been required to participate financially through the subsidized subscriptions.
Schedule
Leaves fall at different times of the season, beginning mid-October with many maples and ornamentals dropping first then oak trees among others that hang on sometimes until Spring. To accommodate all subscribers with different species of trees, the County provides a program that begins the third Monday of October and runs until December 18th each year. The Spring Pass begins on the third Monday in May after frost and snow have subsided. Subscribers receive up to 5 Fall passes as received in the very successful initial season. Weather permitting.
Affordable / High Quality / Long Term Resident Solution
The subsidized program received rave reviews from resident subscribers after the highly successful initial subsidized season. The County is excited to have found a program solution that provides residents the highest quality program possible that remains affordable for both the county and resident subscribers. The Commissioners signed a long term contract to provide residents a consistent annual alternative to burning leaves which has been permanently banned at all times. The county council has noted zero tolerance for burning and enacted enforcement thru multiple agencies of up to $1,000.00 fines for first burn ban offenses.
