Chittenden Solid Waste District proposes $40/ton management fee to close recycling facility funding gap; Winooski appoints representatives

The Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) presented its fiscal 2026 budget to the Winooski City Council on May 19 and proposed raising the district’s long-standing solid waste management fee from $30 per ton to $40 per ton to help close a projected funding gap for a new material recycling facility.

Sarah Reeves, executive director for the district, told the council the district is budgeting roughly $16.25 million in revenue for fiscal 2026 and that, "we are basically at a breakeven for fiscal 26." She said the proposed fee increase would raise district revenue to about $17.05 million and generate an estimated $1.5 million to $1.7 million excess to be directed to the new material recycling facility capital reserve fund.

The fee, charged to haulers at disposal and already incorporated into customer bills, has been in place since 1993. Reeves said CSWD’s revenue comes primarily from three sources—tipping (user) fees, sales of materials (compost, recycled goods) and the solid waste management fee charged to haulers—and that the district receives no member-municipality tax revenue. She described a roughly $4 million funding shortfall for the new facility (MERF), driven in part by losing the district’s originally planned site, an unexpected $3 million property purchase in March, COVID-related delays and inflation.

Reeves walked the council through CSWD’s analysis of historical fee-setting and industry inflation indices, and said that had the district made annual CPI-linked adjustments it would be closer to $39.21 today. She said the district board has asked staff to consider tying future regular adjustments to a Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI measure (including a garbage-and-trash industry index) so the fee keeps pace with operating costs. Reeves also described several smaller user-fee changes for FY26, including increasing small bag pricing (from $3 for 13 gallons to $4 for an 18-gallon bag) and raising mattress-disposal charges under a new vendor contract.

Councilors discussed the proposal and asked procedural questions about the budget timeline. Reeves described the district’s annual process: staff present a proposed budget by Dec. 1, a public hearing in January, finance committee review in February, board consideration in March and then municipal votes. Winooski council members indicated support in principle and the council agreed to place formal approval on a future council agenda so members could act after municipalities receive CSWD’s final materials.

In a related agenda item, the council approved the appointment of its representatives to the CSWD board: Councilor Oakley to continue as the primary representative and Rachel Kennedy to continue as alternate. The motion was moved and seconded and the chair called the question; the motion carried.

The presentation included additional technical and operational context: roughly one-third of the 307,000 tons of materials generated in Chittenden County were landfilled in the prior year, and CSWD staff emphasized organics diversion (food-scrap collection and education) as a priority because a significant share of landfill material is compostable organics.

Council members did not take a final municipal vote on the CSWD budget or the fee increase that night; staff said the district would submit the final budget to member municipalities and that municipal action will be scheduled according to the CSWD calendar.

The council’s appointments to the CSWD board were approved during the meeting. The district’s next steps include further public engagement on the budget and ongoing work to fill the MERF funding gap, while municipalities await formal CSWD board action and the district’s final budget packet.