VIDALIA — Vidalia residents could be going green with a curbside recycling program by September.

The Vidalia Board of Aldermen agreed at its meeting Tuesday to consider including $20,000 in the city’s upcoming fiscal year budget to fund a pilot curbside recycling program that would include providing 360 residents with a 35-gallon container.

Alderman Ricky Knapp provided the board with details of the program, which could end up costing participating residents an additional $2 on their monthly utility bill.

“We polled several people in the community about a monthly fee to help recoup and nobody objected to it,” Knapp said. “We can use that money to purchase future containers.”

The program would initially serve 30 percent of the city’s entire 1,200 households. Those residents would be selected a voluntary basis, Knapp said.

Curbside pickup for residents participating in the program would be Wednesday mornings. Residents participating would not have to sort the recycling beforehand, Knapp said.

“It’s single stream, so it will all go into one bin and (Concordia Metals) is set up to do the sorting,” Knapp said. “We’re estimating four hours to completely cover the city.”

Knapp said the city might need to purchase another garbage truck to handle the extra route.

Mayor Hyram Copeland said city officials would attempt to work in the additional costs to the upcoming budget.

“Of course our money is so tight in a new budget, but this is important, so we’ll sit down and look at it,” Copeland said. “It’s a great program, and we hope it’s successful.”

In other news from the meeting:

4The board will host a specially called meeting Thursday, June 27, for a public hearing and adoption of its budget for fiscal year 2013-2014.

Copeland said city officials are currently working through the final stages of the budgeting process and would soon be reaching out to individual aldermen for their input.

“We’ll be calling each aldermen that’s over each particular department and going over that department with you as far as the budget is concerned,” Copeland said. “We’ll go over the entire budget with you, and if you have any questions, we’ll be happy to answer them.”