FRANKFORT — There is a dilemma for regulators as they ponder the notion of universal curbside collection of household waste.

        On one hand, in counties where there is already universal collection, getting people to pay for the service is a pesky problem. On the other hand, if the service is cut off for lack of payment, the garbage keeps coming.

        “If you cut them off, it's going to go somewhere,” Natural Re sources Secretary James Bickford told the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday.

        Mr. Bickford and others were outlining the proposal passed last week by the House that would put the burden on counties to clean up illegal dumps or provide universal collection.

        If curbside collection is chosen, a number of different avenues are offered to help collect the sanitary service bill, including putting it on property tax bills, for which there is near-universal collection.

        The legislation, though, would require everyone to have their trash picked up even if they didn't pay their bills.

        “You're forcing providers to provide a service, but you're not forcing consumers to pay for it,” said Senate Republican floor leader Dan Kelly of Springfield.

        Mr. Kelly outlined the alternative put forth by the Senate Republicans in a speech earlier in the week. The centerpiece would be $7 million a year for five years to clean up illegal dumps. The Senate's proposal about what, if anything, to do about diverting the trash that keeps creating the illegal dumps has not been revealed.

        Mr. Kelly also emphasized the public education initiative already passed by the Senate. The proposal would create local groups to foster litter cleanup and abatement programs, as well as begin education to break the habit of many Kentuckians of throwing their waste out the car window, over the hill or down a sinkhole.

        But there is no hint of how any of the education or litter initiatives would be financed. Mr. Kelly said the money would have to wait until the 2002 session.

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