Scott Olson, the City of Fargo solid waste director, presented department operations, recycling markets, landfill capacity and a proposed set of rate changes to the finance committee.

Olson opened with a breakdown of typical residential charges: “The garbage rate… $9 per month, that’s our most popular can, 64‑gallon container. And then about 80 plus percent of folks do opt in to recycle. That’s an additional $4 a month,” he said. He described other services included in the fee such as household hazardous waste drop‑off, transfer station access, 20 recycling and yard‑waste drop sites and annual cleanup week.

Olson said the city owns and operates its landfill and that regional users (for example, West Fargo and Cass County) pay a tipping fee at the scales; he gave the current tipping fee as $51 per ton. “We are the only landfill in the state of North Dakota that does active gas collection,” Olson said, describing two uses for captured landfill gas: sale to a local partner that uses it for boiler heat and on‑site electricity generation; he said the program has “captured and destroyed the equivalent of over 2,000,000 metric tons of CO2.”

On recycling, Olson said markets have been weak and glass removed from the all‑in‑one program is currently crushed and used as filter media in construction debris cells; he said recycling contract costs are rising and the city renewed its contract in May.

Operational and cost drivers cited included rising equipment costs (collection trucks up ~40% in price in five years; heavy landfill equipment up ~25% in five years), maintenance and downtime risks, personnel costs and average vehicle mileage. Olson described equipment‑intensive operations and noted a landfill compactor’s role in creating air‑space savings: compacting an additional foot across a 10‑acre cell could produce about $1.2 million of additional capacity value.

Olson proposed rates that would raise the average Fargo residential combined bill from $13 to $15 per month (a $1 increase to recycling and a $1 increase to garbage), roughly $24 per year for an average household. He also proposed increasing the landfill tipping fee from $51 to $57 per ton and cited an estimated $600,000 in additional commercial revenue from the proposed commercial rate changes. Examples included raising a 4‑yard commercial container pickup from $86 to $100 per week.

Olson said the current permitted landfill life is about 17 years and that siting and permitting a new site can take up to a decade; he framed early planning now as necessary to ensure 40–50 years of capacity long‑term. He said staff will evaluate financing options (reserves vs. borrowing) to spread future land purchase and construction costs across users and time.

No rate ordinance or formal vote occurred at the meeting; staff presented proposals and will return with formal ordinances and public notices per the city's normal rate‑setting process.