Hall County’s compactor sites will soon close two hours early, a move that will save the county more than $82,000 over the next year.

Starting July 5, the county’s 13 compactor sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Sunday hours will remain 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Solid Waste Director Cary Lawler said the decision was made after a study revealed few people visited the sites after 7 p.m.

"We did a traffic study over the past year and looked at our operating hours," Lawler said. "Between 7 and 9 o’clock on Mondays through Saturdays (sites) averaged about 23 cars during that time."

Lawler said closing earlier also will make the compactor sites safer.

"There were two issues we were looking at, No. 1 being public safety and our employee safety out there, especially during the time change when it gets darker a whole lot earlier," Lawler said. "The other thing is budgetwise. We look at our cost and looking at eliminating those hours it represented about an $82,500 savings for the county."

Lawler said safety has become a real concern.

"There have been cases where we’ve had to have individuals arrested for threatening our compactor site attendants," Lawler said.

No employees will be laid off to accommodate the changes.

"What we’ve done is we’ve adjusted their hours," Lawler said. "Basically each shift took an hour cut a day."

Peak hours for the compactor sites are 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., during which Lawler said the average number of cars was nearly twice what it was after 7.

"A lot of sites are even more than that. Sardis is probably our heaviest site. We can do over 1,000 vehicles a week at Sardis," Lawler said.

Hall County Administrator Charley Nix said the cut is one of many the county is taking to trim $5 million from its budget.

Nix said each department had to look at ways to cut this year.

"One of the things you want to do is try to find cost cutting ways that does minimal impact on the public," Nix said.

Though $82,000 may not seem like much in a $92 million budget, Nix said cuts must be made a little at a time.

"Every department has its goals and it all adds up," Nix said. "Every little bit counts."