Snohomish County Council on June 4 approved Ordinance 25-027 and Motion 25-207 to revise the Solid Waste Division fee schedule, a package that creates a separate waste-export fee schedule, updates tipping fees and sets a 3% annual increase beginning Jan. 1, 2027. The votes were unanimous, 5-0.

The proposed ordinance "would amend Snohomish County Code to increase' excuse me, to include a separate waste export service fee schedule for specific services," Council staff member Deb Everson Bell told the council during a staff report. Bell said the fee schedule would take effect Jan. 1, 2026, with the 3% annual increase starting Jan. 1, 2027, and that secured-load enforcement fees are not included in the 3% annual adjustment.

The change aligns with the county's cost-recovery standard under Snohomish County Code 7.41.020. Several private haulers and advisory-committee representatives told the council they support predictable, multi-year rate paths to maintain service levels as county tonnage grows.

"In 2024, Snohomish County processed 750,000 tons of solid waste," said Vargas, municipal manager for Republic Services, who urged the council to "align your tipping fees with the rest of the state to cover the cost of your operations and disposal." Vargas said new state legislation and rising costs mean the county needs a longer-term funding plan.

Wendy Weicker, a member of the Snohomish County Solid Waste Advisory Committee and chair of the King County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, told the council annual adjustments help utilities and haulers budget and maintain infrastructure. "Budgeting and predictability is also crucially important for our staff doing this work and having a clear path forward with annual rate increases that we can predict," Weicker said.

Robin Friedman, senior manager of public sector services for WM (formerly Waste Management), also supported the update and noted the county had held rates roughly steady for nearly 16 years while maintaining service, but that growth and rising demand make additional investment necessary.

Skip Knutson, maintenance services and solid waste manager for the City of Marysville and an attendee of the county's Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC), urged caution about key assumptions in the rate model. Knutson said the SWAC presentation assumed the county's long-haul waste export contract would expire at the end of 2027 and that a new contract could raise export costs by roughly 50 percent. "This forecast subsequently modeled a $20,000,000 negative fund balance as of 2028," Knutson said, adding that the rate proposal for 2026 relies heavily on that contract-cost assumption.

Knutson also said a SWAC letter dated Oct. 31, 2024, described a need for increases and a multi-year schedule but did not explicitly endorse the specific 2026 rates now proposed. He said the projected increase in tipping fees would add about $1.3 million in expenses for the City of Marysville's municipal-hauler operations and estimated that would translate to a 12% to 13% increase in residential and curbside commercial collection rates for his jurisdiction.

Deb Everson Bell told the council that Snohomish County included in the draft schedule prior adjustments approved in 2024: updates to vector-waste and residual-reclamation fees had been folded into the proposed schedule and are subject to the 3% annual increases beginning in 2027. She also said that a 2024 council motion increased illegal-dumping fees and that the current proposed motion would keep the illegal-dumping fee at $50 per ton if the county restarts that enforcement program.

Council members heard the staff report, took public testimony, and then moved to votes. Chair Nehring moved approval of Ordinance 25-027; the motion was "properly moved and seconded." Roll-call vote results recorded Council member Lowell: yes; Council member Mead: yes; Council member Peterson: aye; Vice chair Dunne: yes; Chair Nehring: yes. The ordinance passed, 5-0. The council then approved Motion 25-207 by voice vote, also 5-0.

Council staff identified the two pieces of legislation as distinct but interrelated: the ordinance updates code to create the separate export fee schedule and revise tipping fees, while the motion addresses adjustments to the Solid Waste Division service-fee schedule and retains the $50-per-ton illegal-dumping fee in the event that program is reactivated.

Several speakers urged the council to adopt a predictable, multi-year rate path rather than a single large increase, and some municipal representatives asked the county to clarify whether discounted tipping rates would apply to certificated haulers and to municipally operated haulers. Those clarifications were noted during testimony but no council amendment on that point was presented on the floor during the June 4 vote.

The ordinance and motion take effect per the dates described in the staff report; the primary fee changes begin Jan. 1, 2026, and the annual 3% adjustments start Jan. 1, 2027, as set out in the adopted documents. The council recessed after the votes.