WPTV spoke with the mayor of Port St. Lucie on Tuesday to get her thoughts on a recent multi-million dollar settlement with the city’s former trash hauler.
Mayor Shannon Martin said she wants $24 million from Friday’s settlement with Waste Pro to be returned to residents.
WATCH BELOW: Mayor wants money from trash settlement returned to residents
“I’m committed to making sure that our residents get paid back for what they had to deal with during that time,” Martin said.
The mayor said staff still need to discuss logistics and figure out how many households were affected.
“It’s the residents who went through all these issues and suffered as a result,” Martin said. “We want to make sure that we do it diligently, very efficiently and effectively.”
But it’s a decision that Martin said will have to be determined by the entire city council. There’s no exact timeline for when the city council will discuss the $24 million.
Waste Pro is also urging the city to return the money to taxpayers.
“IT WAS A MESS”
The settlement came after WPTV reported on Port St. Lucie’s trash troubles for years, which included missed garbage and recycling pickups during the pandemic.
“It was a mess,” said Port St. Lucie resident Bert Doward. “Trash would pile up.”
Waste Pro blamed pandemic staffing shortages, but the city said it breached its contract for the standard of service.