Junk Car Removal Program a Success

A Borough program to encourage junk car removals was so successful, it ran out of funds in six weeks. The Borough funded the program with $50,000.

Borough Development Services Manager Jason Ortiz relayed the success of the program at the first November Assembly meeting. Ortiz says the Borough paid up to $200 per vehicle to the contractors. There was continued interest even after the program ended.

From mid-September through the end of October, two contractors hauled 250 vehicles from private properties. Each parcel was limited to three cars. 

Borough Manager Mike Brown said though the program removed the cars from private property, they remain in the Borough at the contractor facilities. He says staff are looking into ways the cars might be recycled and removed from the Borough. 

Ortiz noted the Borough also is exploring a community trash removal program. Staff sent letters to every non-profit in the Borough to determine the interest and capacity to help clean up private properties. Ortiz says a holistic approach may be more helpful than continuing to issue citations that don’t address the underlying problems.

These issues and others associated with trash were addressed by Community Councils at an Assembly meeting in August. The Borough responded with two weeks of free dumping, the junk car removal program, and several others that are being explored. The Borough has spent nearly one million dollars total for junk and trash removal on private property this fiscal year.