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Montgomery officials discuss raising residential sanitation fee to close operating shortfall
Summary
City staff told council the sanitation operation is running a deficit and proposed raising collection fees; councilmembers asked for more information, time for constituent outreach and clarity on service performance before approving changes.
City sanitation staff told the Montgomery City Council during a work session that the sanitation operation is running a structural deficit and the city is considering raising the monthly residential collection fee, currently $27 per household.
The sanitation presenter said the city serves "approximately 60,000 customers" and that each dollar of fee increase would generate roughly $720,000 in revenue if everyone paid. The staff presentation emphasized that the chart shown reflected operating costs only and excluded recent capital purchases such as new packer trucks and landfill construction costs that are budgeted separately.
Council members asked whether raising tipping/dump fees or other fees would raise meaningful revenue. Staff replied that higher tipping fees would generate only about $160,000 and that the largest revenue impact comes from the monthly collection fee. Council members also raised the risk that a fee increase could increase nonpayment.
Several councilmembers said they supported raising fees in principle but wanted more public notice and time to brief constituents. One councilmember asked that the council "table it over" to allow time for three scheduled Zoom meetings so residents could be informed before a vote. Another councilmember said a $5 increase was not the core issue; the council should fix persistent curbside service gaps before asking residents to pay more. The sanitation presenter described operational changes the city has taken, including moving to single-arm collection vehicles ("one-armed bandit") to improve efficiency, and noted the equipment does not work in all neighborhoods because of overhead obstructions and parked cars.
Council discussion also touched on whether parts of sanitation could be privatized. Staff said privatization was an option they could study but had not yet been investigated.
Councilmembers asked when the last rate increase occurred; staff said the $27 fee was set roughly nine years ago when the current collection program began (around 2016). Several councilmembers requested more detailed financial projections and service performance data before advancing a rate change.
No formal motion or vote on fees was recorded in the work session transcript; councilmembers instead requested additional information, time for outreach and clarification of service reliability prior to taking formal action.
