The City of Fall River wins a court victory regarding its private trash pickup plan.

The lawsuit was brought by a group of 12 taxpayers who argued that, since the city council never approved it, the mayor should not have gone through with the contract.

However, ABC6 reports that the Taunton judge ruled that the move was in the mayor’s authority, saying councilors effectively approved the contract on Tuesday night when they voted to pass the city’s overall budget.

"We try and deliver taxpayer savings, we try to slim down government when we can and make sure that people get the services they deserve at the price that the city can afford," said Mayor Jasiel Correia "and in this particular case, privatization made so much sense."

The council originally rejected the mayor's nearly $256-million budget last week with councilors criticizing termination fees in the trash contract.

"The mayor basically had them in a no-win situation,” said Lesley Rich, lawyer for the taxpayer group. “[The councilors] wanted to make sure the trash was being picked up and at the same time they didn't want this bad contract."

The city is also facing a lawsuit from a union group representing the sanitation workers who will be layed off when the new contract goes into effect Friday.

The former city sanitation workers will be able to apply for positions with the new company.

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