Residents will likely see an increase on their trash bills beginning June 1 now that the 45-day period during which they could protest the new rates has passed.
The City Council Tuesday voted 4-0 to adopt increased rates negotiated in March with waste hauler Waste Management, along with a higher fee charged to residents by the city to administer the contract. Mayor Richard Montgomery was not present for the vote because he was traveling to Sacramento for yesterday’s Supreme Court hearing on the city’s pending plastic bag lawsuit.
During a Prop 218 process that began on March 15, the city received 264 of the 6,500 rate-payer protests that would have prevented it from adopting the new rates. Prop 218 requires voter approval before a city can create or increase taxes, fees or other charges to residents. The city has since held two informational meetings about the rate increase and staff said it mailed out notices to all rate-payers in the city.
Waste Management’s former flat monthly fee — $12.02 for unlimited pick-up and disposal of residential trash – will be replaced with tiered pricing that includes monthly fees of $8.65, $12.65 and $16.65 for 35-, 64- and 96-gallon trash bins and unlimited pick-up of recyclables. Annual rate hikes will be based on the Consumer Price Index and are expected to increase 20 percent over the life of the seven-year contract.
But most residents and some council members at Tuesday’s meeting were less concerned with the hauler’s new rates than they were with an increase in the rate of cost recovery to the city for services it provides, including refuse billing, administration of the hauler contract and trash container maintenance and replacement. Both the hauler’s fee and the city’s cost recovery charge make up the customer rate that residents see on their bills.
The city’s recovery charge increased from 17.24 percent of the hauler’s previous contract to 18.2 percent of the new contract, representing $634,909 in fees that will be paid by residents directly to the city during the first year of the five-year contract and more in years to come as hauler rates increase.
“My sense is that the cost recovery fee is too high, my senses tell me” said longtime resident Dave Wachtfogel. “It just sounds too high and I think you should work through these numbers with a sharpened pencil.”
Other residents complained that the fee should not be inclusive of some waste-related services provided by the city, such as recycling services at city events and the replenishment of Mutt Mitts, bags used to clean up after pets. Resident Jackie May suggested that Mutt Mitts be funded by sponsors who would receive advertising on the bags and dispensers.
Resident Eshter Besbris called $4.5 million dollars in cost recovery fees the city would collect at 18.2 percent during the life of the contract “prohibitive” and “unjustified.”
Council voted to have its finance department in six months review the new cost recovery charge with an efficiency audit. If the charge is found to be excessive, the 18.2 percent charge will be reduced going forward and residents will receive rebates for the overages incurred before the audit.
“Nothing stops us at that time with the information available to say ‘There’s too much being charged at this point and X amount needs to be refunded,’” said Mayor Pro Tem Nick Tell.
Most new trash carts have been delivered to sand section homes, which, unlike before, will receive automated carts with wheels and attached lids that can be lifted onto garbage trucks. On Saturday, Waste Management will collect old and unwanted trash bins labeled with “Take Me” stickers in the sand section.
Waste Management is scheduled to hold an information meeting on Thursday, May 19 at 7 p.m. in the Police and Fire Community Room, 420 15th St. For more information, visit www.citymb.info. ER
