Lebanon council approves $20 monthly sanitation fee and adopts 2025-26 budget

The Lebanon City Council on a voice and roll-call vote approved a new $20 monthly sanitation fee and adopted the fiscal year 2025-26 budget after an extended public-comment period and debate among council members.

The sanitation fee — cited by city officials as necessary to cover sharply rising landfill tipping fees and other sanitation costs — will be collected separately from the city’s general fund to make the sanitation operation self-supporting, Mayor Bell said. “I really think the work they do is worth $4.61 a week,” the mayor said, referring to the per-household cost represented by the $20 monthly fee.

Councilors and staff said the fee responds to recent cost increases. The city’s sanitation budget was about $2,060,000 in 2020; officials presented an estimate that the sanitation budget could be about $4,100,000 in the coming year. Landfill tipping fees were reported as roughly $382,000 in 2020 and are projected at about $1,600,000 in the upcoming budget, figures Mayor Bell cited during the meeting. Regina Santana, the city’s utilities director, added that the city’s fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30 and that a new sanitation fund would fund the department moving forward.

Members of the public urged the…