Alton Officials Clash Over $1.6 Million In Unpaid Trash Bills

Alton City Council Meeting

ALTON – An estimated $1.6 million in unpaid trash bills which have gone uncollected sparked calls for more aggressive action at the last Alton City Council meeting.

The issue was first raised at the Feb. 23, 2026 Committee of the Whole meeting, when Alderman Michael Velloff asked Mayor David Goins who was responsible for collecting the delinquent trash bills and what steps the city had taken to collect them.

“Don’t make it seem like this debt just came up when I took office,” Mayor Goins responded. “It was there before I got here, and it’s grown, but we are addressing that.”

At the City Council meeting on March 11, 2026, Velloff acknowledged there was some unpaid trash debt under the previous mayoral administration of Brant Walker, but said it has risen by over $1 million under Goins.

“Under Walker during COVID, that debt ran up to about $400,000,” Velloff said. “Under your administration in the last four and a half years, or almost five now, it’s run up another $1.2 million.”

Also at the March 11 meeting, Alderman Chris Bohn asked Goins to clarify who in the city is responsible for collecting the unpaid trash debt. Goins said these collections are the responsibility of the Comptroller’s Office.

Comptroller Paul Fritsch said his office has been “crunching the different numbers” to find the official amount owed to the city, adding some of these bills have gone unpaid for 10 to 12 years or more.

Treasurer Elizabeth Allen added that her office has been printing off and sorting through individual invoices in an effort to determine how much of the debt is “real” and how much may be outdated or “uncollectible.”

Velloff later questioned why Fritsch, who was appointed in January of 2026, is being trained by former comptroller Debbie Dunlap.

“Debbie Dunlap was the comptroller for the past four and a half years, so she was responsible for that collection,” Velloff said. “Debbie did not bother to try collecting the $400,000 and let it run up another $1.2 million for a total of $1.6 million. Why are you having Debbie Dunlap train the new comptroller?”

“Because he’s the new comptroller,” Goins replied, prompting Velloff to respond: “But she wasn’t doing her job.” Goins denied this claim, saying, “She was doing her job.”

Velloff then suggested a number of actions the city could take to ramp up its collection efforts. These include having the trash companies collect their trash cans from non-paying customers, contacting the Illinois Comptroller’s Office, filing liens against non-paying customers, and asking Illinois American Water to shut the water off for properties with unpaid trash bills.

City Council Coordinator Beth Bear said the city has contacted the state Comptroller’s Office, but warned that discrepancies with certain names could cause issues.

“If my name is Elizabeth Bear and the name on my trash bill is Beth Bear, that is not a failsafe system,” Bear said. “The Comptroller will not connect the dots on Elizabeth Bear versus Beth Bear.”

A full recording of the March 11, 2026 Alton City Council meeting is available at the top of this story and on Riverbender.com/video.

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