MADISON, Wis. -- Madison residents will soon be getting new garbage cans for the city's automated trash collection, but three months before collection begins, the project has already overrun its budget by $500,000.

At the beginning of the year, residents were asked about the size of their new trash bin. City officials said they thought more people would select smaller rather than larger sizes like they did with the recycling bins. But the opposite was true, and city officials said it's one reason that the garbage budget is already strained.

As Madison's Rhythm & Booms nears, crews anticipating the massive amounts of garbage have been hauling around trash bins in an attempt to ease the cleanup effort.

For the first time, festival goers will be able to use green recycling bins and get a sneak peek at the city's new trash carts.

"By dropping these cans in pairs, hopefully we're going to cut down on our garbage problems that we have in here in the park. And hopefully its better for the environment (and) people recycle," said Mike Kelly, a worker for Rhythm & Booms.

The tan garbage carts are part of the city's automated refuse collection that starts in September, but the $2.7 million program is already over budget.

"We were $517,000 short in what we budgeted to purchase carts for the refuse program," said George Dreckmann, recycling coordinator for the city of Madison.

Dreckmann said the shortfall is due to higher than expected costs for the carts. He said soaring oil prices have pushed up the cost of petroleum used to make them, and that cost has been passed along to the city.

"Because of the changes in oil and natural gas prices, the price of plastic resin went up, and that's what hit us the hardest," Dreckmann said.

However, taxpayers won't have to cover the shortfall, WISC-TV reported.

"We are taking money from other budgeted items that are not going to be constructed," Dreckmann said.

Dreckmann said a remodeling job at a city refuse transfer station came in $200,000 under bid, and that money will be used, as well as more than $300,000 meant to help reconstruct Lien Road. That project has been delayed, WISC-TV reported.

Dreckmann said the Lien Road project was delayed to do a study on a roundabout or other alternatives.

The trash carts will start showing up at Madison homes on July 9. There will be no exchanges until next year.

Despite the budget crunch, Dreckmann said the new automated program will save money.

He said that the recycling program, which started two years ago, is saving taxpayers $350,000 a year. He said that refuse collection will eventually save taxpayers $600,000 a year.