U-Cycle bids show large cost increases; staff outlines options including higher monthly fee or switching to every-other-week pickup

City staff told the Committee of the Whole that recent bids for Urbana’s U-Cycle curbside and multifamily recycling contracts came in substantially higher than the city’s expiring contracts and laid out options for how the city might respond.

What staff reported - Bidders: Staff solicited separate five-year bids for curbside and multifamily recycling collection. Three vendors submitted proposals; the low bids for each service were different vendors. - Bid results: Multifamily-collection low-bid annual spend is about 47 percent higher than current contract costs; curbside low-bid annual spend is substantially higher than the existing contract (staff presented scenarios that would increase the monthly dedicated recycling tax paid on the city utility bill). - Estimated household impact (order-of-magnitude): maintaining weekly curbside service would raise the monthly recycling line from $3.25 to an estimated $8.68 per month for single-family accounts under staff’s preliminary calculations; switching to every-other-week curbside…