GARY | Mayor Rudy Clay announced Monday that Allied Waste Services of Northwest Indiana has begun taking over garbage collection in the city.

Clay said Allied will do the job for half the cost taxpayers have been paying for what he hopes will be better service than had been provided by the city's municipal sanitation district.

"We have run three and four weeks behind picking up garbage," he said.

The mayor said 46 sanitation district employees who previously collected garbage for the city will either apply for jobs with Allied or other city job openings.

Clay said it was costing the city $41 a household to pick up garbage because of increasing gasoline and health care benefit costs in addition to the maintenance of city garbage trucks and payroll costs.

"We are in a major financial crunch because of budget cuts. It will save the city a few million dollars," he said, adding Allied would do the collection for about $21 per household.

The mayor said he has heard of efforts to stop the privatization of the department.

Ted Bilski, business agent for Gary Teamsters Local 142, said his union represents the workers laid off as well as Allied Waste employees. He said he has heard Allied may hire as many as half the affected workers because they have promised to give Gary residents preference in their employment for Gary garbage pickup.

Bilski said his union isn't party to any litigation to stop the privatization, although the union has filed a grievance over the city reducing the workers' hours earlier this year.

Bilski said some question why the new garbage collection wasn't put up for competitive bidding. The mayor said the change is an amendment to a prior contract the city had with Allied to dispose of waste the city collected.

Jim Metros, a spokesman for Allied, said Monday his firm will be running trucks through the city on weekdays and weekends to catch up on uncollected garbage as well as handle large items, such as furniture, the city didn't pick up before.