Brush drop off in La Crosse will require registration

Non-residents will be charged, as will contractors.

There won’t be a fee, but registration will be required to use La Crosse’s brush drop off site this year.

Monday, the city’s public works board voted to allow Today’s Tree Service to take over operation of the brush site.

Owner Jeff Wiedman wanted to charge a $5 annual fee at the site. The board said no to that, although members did approve fees for contractors and out of town users and a permit for residents. 

“There are no other options anymore,” Wiedman said. “Most of the small municipalities are closing their brush sites for this exact reason – the cost to run them is getting expensive.”

Wiedman, who chips the brush and sells it as bio fuel to Xcel Energy, doesn’t believe it will complicate summer yard cleaning that much. 

“The ease of use will be pretty much the same,” he said. “It won’t function that much differently. Just questioning where you’re from a little more.”

And where you’re from will matter. Wiedman’s crews will require non-residents to pay at least $10 per load to drop brush at the site. Contractors will now be on the hook for a $200 annual fee.

“It streamlines the situation for me to not have to check constantly, ‘Where do you live?'” Wiedman said. “But, then also it just, financially, makes it a little easier to just staff it with people.”

Changes are scheduled to go into effect in May, although it remains unclear how residents will be able to get the annual permits to use the site.

Yard waste drop off for grass clippings and leaves at Isle la Plume will continue to be operated by the city.