Milwaukie council continues solid-waste rate discussion as consultant flags Metro disposal and fuel-credit impacts

Milwaukie council members continued a detailed discussion on solid-waste franchise rates on May 20 after a presentation by consultant Chris Bell of Bell & Associates.

The question is consequential for residents because disposal and collection cost drivers identified by the consultant — Metro disposal fees, organics-processing costs and the end of a compressed natural gas (CNG) tax credit — are expected to raise franchise costs the city passes through to customers.

Chris Bell summarized franchise areas, customer counts and the principal cost drivers. He said Metro’s organic-disposal fee increased 6.9 percent and that the city’s disposal rate is now about $163.27 per ton. Bell said one significant new cost is the expiration of a CNG tax credit that had subsidized haulers that run compressed natural-gas trucks; that change produces an estimated added cost of about $74,000 to the city franchise pool. Bell also said labor-cost assumptions used for haulers were driven by an existing…