Premont Issues Notice of Trash Collection Delays, Asks Residents for Patience

Trash pickup in Premont has been inconsistent since at least last Thanksgiving, and the city's April 6 advisory confirmed the backlog has not been cleared: crews are working, the city says, but residents should leave bins at the curb and be patient. No timeline for full recovery was given, and no billing credit or service remedy was offered.

The disruptions trace to a decision made roughly a year ago, when Premont ended its contract with an outside hauler and purchased its own truck to serve the city's nearly 2,400 residents. The shift proved vulnerable the moment that truck broke down. Mayor Idolina Perez confirmed the mechanical failure in January, noting that the breakdown involved a component rather than the truck itself, though the repair stretched across the holiday season and into the new year. Residents reported going weeks without pickup, with some saying collection had not come since Thanksgiving.

The frustration became public in January, when residents complained openly about months without service and at least one person stepped in independently to help neighbors manage accumulated waste while the city worked toward a fix. The April 6 notice is the municipal government's latest acknowledgment that the problem persists more than four months later.

The city's instructions to residents are limited: leave receptacles at the curb, do not block alleys or streets, and contact city hall directly for urgent situations or special arrangements. The advisory included no bagging guidance, no bulky-item procedures, and no drop-off alternatives for residents who cannot wait out the delay.

Whether the April recovery effort resolves the backlog or simply delays a harder decision remains to be seen. An in-house operation built around a single truck has no structural cushion against mechanical failure, and that vulnerability has been in plain view for months. If service gaps continue, city council may face pressure to contract with an outside provider, replace or supplement the current equipment, or offer billing relief to residents who paid for service they did not receive.