Even with referendum, repealing Racine's recycling bins would take work

Alderman Sandy Weidner is pushing forward with her request to hold a referendum this spring on recycling carts in Racine.

In a brief interview, City Attorney Rob Weber laid out a few potential obstacles to the referendum:

1. It would need to be an advisory referendum. State law says a city can't hold a binding referendum to repeal a budget item, Weber said.

2. Any decision to overturn the recycling carts, which were included in the city budget, would require a two-thirds vote by the City Council. That means 10 aldermen would have to oppose the carts. Efforts to pull the carts out of the 2010 city budget attracted three and four votes - not nearly enough to overturn the decision.

3. There's an issue of practicality. The city has issued request-for-proposals to buy the bins, and official are moving forward with the 2010 budget item. Any referendum would require the city to slow its plans to distribute bins this spring.

That said, Weber said it was possible to place the advisory referendum on the spring ballot. The City Council is scheduled to discuss the item at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 2.