We admit it. We haven’t had much good to say about City Hall these days — or at least since Milt McInturff was still on City Countil.

But a decision last week gave us something to cheer about — and reaffirmed that, yes, council and the Third Floor of City Hall do recognize that Winchester folk do pay taxes, a lot of them, and they deserve some relief from the burden.

Though under the gun — the city faced a Monday deadline (July 15) when the firm that accepts Winchester’s recyclables will stop taking the city’s aluminum and plastics — council voted unanimously to continue its curbside recycling pick-up but not (and here’s the rub) assess a proposed $3 monthly fee to offset principally the transport and tipping fees for taking the reusable refuse to other facilities. City Public Services Director Perry Eisenach had suggested the $3 fee to take up the slack.

Council was having none of the levy. Councilor Bill Wiley spoke for all, we believe, when he said, “I think our residents are being taxed enough.” Bravo!

So what the city will do is use money ($125,000) from its fund balance to offset the cost of the program, which will require the city, at least for the short term, to haul its plastics and aluminum to a processing firm in Manassas and transport its paper and cardboard to a facility in Williamsport, Md. (The local company that stopped taking aluminum and plastics ceased accepting glass earlier this year; no recycling concern has yet been found to accept glass, so it will not be part of the current program.)

How long this salutary tax situation will last is questionable. Mr. Eisenach says working out a long-term solution to the problem may take as long as two years. Hence, the $3 fee may rear its head again. We hope not.