Summary: There are five (5) municipalities within a 100-mile radius of the Town of Jarratt, VA, that have trash pickup twice a week.
[In addition, so it doesn't get lost, residents of the City of Emporia, VA, have trash collection once a week - and they pay $23 per month on their utility bill for this service.
Also, the next Council Meeting for the Town of Jarratt, VA, is at 6:00pm on Monday, April 14th, 2025.]
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There have been quite a few people mentioning in our anonymous email collective that the Town of Jarratt, Virginia, will be reducing the number of times trash will be picked up weekly - from twice a week to once a week - yet there has been no mention of lowering taxes or adding an additional service in place of what is being severed, which means trash collection once a week would cost the resident twice as much in taxes!
It has apparently also been stated to persons asking employees at the Town Office and/or members of town government that Jarratt, VA, is the only place that collects trash twice a week at this point in time.
Since that point, we at FYI have compiled a list of towns and cities within a one-hundred (100) mile radius of the Town just to take a closer look.
It may look frightening to some, so much information in a huge clump, but FYI does due diligence and cites as many facts as possible. If we didn't, people would point fingers and say we're lying - municipal websites generally won't lie to you when it comes to fees they want you to pay, as they'd have to answer to higher government officials if caught.
There are five (5) municipalities within a one-hundred (100) mile radius of the Town of Jarratt that have a two (2) times a week trash pickup schedule. [Miles are subject to change, but the links are to the original research.]:
- Blackstone, VA (41 miles away) - paid for under utilities [PDF] to cover costs. Rates vary, and are posted under their budget summary [PDF] on page 2.
- Crewe, VA (53 miles away) - collected two (2) times a week, with commercial trash pickup three (3) times a week. Under "sanitation," prices are listed under utilities.
- Boydton, VA (57 miles away) - paid for under utilities, trash is collected two (2) times a week.
- Urbanna, VA (98 miles away) - trash is collected two (2) times a week from April until mid-November, then one (1) time a week until April returns. Until recently they also provided recycling services; until we hear back from them, we can only state they offer trash pickup - we are not sure if they pay for the service as a utility, or their taxes cover the cost.
- Tappahannock, VA (100 miles away) - paid for as a service one (1) time every other month, trash is collected two (2) times a week, and commercial trash is collected three (3) times a week. Recycling is collected one (1) time per week.
Here's something else we can look at - population and number of households. From largest to smallest (based on various calculations found online from census records):
- Blackstone, VA - population 3,352; households, 1,310
- Crewe, VA - population 2,262; households, 1,098
- Tappahannock, VA - population 2,193; households, 997
- JARRATT, VA - population 652; households, 271
- Urbanna, VA - population 492; households, 209
- Boydton, VA - population 302; households, 123
We can also look at previous budgets, cost of trash collection (roughly) paid for under utilities, and see what we get....
- Blackstone, VA:
With a budgeted expense of $488,289.oo [PDF] for public works, and
a monthly utilities fee of $17.25 per month for trash collection, if there are
1,310 households using the service, the
total fees collected are $271,170.oo,
cutting the expense more than half, at $217,119.oo,
the remainder, obviously, paid for with tax payers' monies yearly
for services OTHER THAN trash collection; - Tappahannock, VA:
With a budgeted expense of $1,468,400.oo [PDF] for public works, and
what is essentially a $12 per month utilities fee for trash collection, if there are
997 households using the service, the
total fees collected are $143,568.oo annually,
cutting the expense to $1,324,832.oo,
the remainder, obviously, paid for with tax payers' monies yearly
for services OTHER THAN trash collection;
Due to the fact they offer other types of trash collection at different prices, the average is skewed. - JARRATT, VA:
With no budget allotted online for the current session, nor the previous,
the posted 2019-2020 budget [PDF] allows us to see
a proposed revenue of $3,382.oo for out of area garbage pickup;
labor for public works as well as motor pool (we're generalizing it for time)
roughly equals an expense of $94,165.62; the out of area garbage pickup added
brings it down to $90,783.62 in cost, obviously paid entirely with tax payers' monies yearly;
Yet again, remember that the cost is for more than just trash pickup!
While these are just a quick peek into what we can allow with what we have been allowed, we need to take into account what "Public Works" takes care of every single day, week, month, and year. Some areas still have their own water and sewer systems; some areas have daily road cleaning; some areas have leaf removal, as well as large item pickup.
Taking into account the number of people and households is fine, but we also need to look at square miles and how much work Public Works actually does beyond just picking up trash - only dealing with these five (5) towns, as well as the Town of Jarratt, that provide trash pickup two (2) times a week, let's look at each municipality's size in square miles and public services (not necessarily taken care of by Public Works)....
- Blackstone, VA: 4.6 square miles;
-- trash pickup
-- water and sewer
-- electricity
-- cemetery
-- bus transit
-- baseball stadium (need more information)
-- golf cart ordinance
-- police department
-- public park
-- VOLUNTEER fire department - Tappahannock, VA: 2.7 square miles;
-- trash pickup
-- recycling
-- water and sewer
-- water treatment plant
-- police department
-- golf cart ordinance
-- several parks
-- VOLUNTEER fire department - Crewe, VA: 2.0 square miles;
-- trash pickup
-- water and sewer
-- water treatment plant
-- sewer treatment plant
-- airport
-- cemetery
-- police department
-- community center
-- VOLUNTEER fire department - JARRATT, VA: 1.3 square miles;
-- trash pickup
-- golf cart ordinance
-- two (2) parks
-- VOLUNTEER fire department - Boydton, VA: 0.8 square miles;
-- trash pickup
-- water and sewer
-- public library
-- golf cart ordinance
-- two (2) campgrounds
-- VOLUNTEER fire department - Urbanna, VA: 0.24 square miles;
-- trash pickup
-- water and sewer
-- community pool
-- golf cart ordinance
-- public parks
-- public trolley (seasonal)
-- museum and visitors center
-- local weekly newspaper publication
-- free monthly guide to events
(While these last two may be viewed as non-municipality, it is definitely something that caught our eye - especially for a town that is less than a quarter of a mile in size!)
-- VOLUNTEER fire department
Did you see the difference in what is given to the communities and the size of the different municipalities? (Urbanna is so tiny, but has so much to give!)
Before anyone wants to argue and squabble over the expression of volunteer beside fire department, volunteer fire departments are not a paid service - they do have appropriations from tax monies on occasion as a donation, but they are VOLUNTEERS and do not get paid for what they do in the community. Most of the time, they, as an entity, apply for grants and host fundraisers to offset costs.
Let's look at the tax base, just because we can do that - right? These are from 2023 [PDF].
- JARRATT, VA:
-- Real Estate, $o.14
-- Personal Property:
----- Tangible, $1.oo
----- Machinery, --
----- Merchants, -- - Blackstone, VA:
-- Real Estate, $o.22 (.08 higher than Jarratt)
-- Personal Property:
----- Tangible, $o.85 (.15 lower than Jarratt)
----- Machinery, $o.85 (.85 higher than Jarratt)
----- Merchants, -- - Crewe, VA:
-- Real Estate, $o.30 (.16 higher than Jarratt)
-- Personal Property:
----- Tangible, $o.90 (.10 lower than Jarratt)
----- Machinery, $1.20 ($1.20 higher than Jarratt)
----- Merchants, -- - Boydton, VA:
-- Real Estate, $o.33 (.19 higher than Jarratt)
-- Personal Property:
----- Tangible, $o.80 (.20 lower than Jarratt)
----- Machinery, $o.47 (.47 higher than Jarratt)
----- Merchants, -- - Urbanna, VA:
-- Real Estate, $o.21 (.07 higher than Jarratt)
-- Personal Property:
----- Tangible, $o.37 (.63 lower than Jarratt)
----- Machinery, --
----- Merchants, -- - Tappahannock, VA:
-- Real Estate, $o.09 (.05 lower than Jarratt)
-- Personal Property:
----- Tangible, $1.25 (.25 higher than Jarratt)
----- Machinery, $o.40 (.40 higher than Jarratt)
----- Merchants, --
Whew. That's a lot more information than was originally given to you when reviewing municipalities within Virginia and North Carolina! But there's a reason for it:
The public, in general, just takes a politician for whatever they say as though it is gospel. Because of this, no one bothers to make sure the information given to them is correct. And it's fun to look at the differences between similar areas - even if we're just looking at garbage, the cost, and its disposal.
Speaking of, there seem to be a handful of liars in the Town of Jarratt's governmental positions, eh? The Town of Jarratt, VA, is most definitely not the only municipality with trash pickup running twice a week, as there's proof that there's one less than fifty (50) miles away.
Be good to each other, and keep on your toes!
- Jarratt, VA, USA:
For the People.
For the People.
Thank you for the help of our newest member, Ruby Stetson, as - without it - the task of gaining so much information in such a VERY short amount of time would have been nearly impossible.