Streator approves fee increases tied to new five-year Waste Management contract

The Streator City Council adopted Ordinance 2025-12, amending the municipal code (chapter 3, revenue and finance, section 3-4-8070) to adjust fees and deposits for city services, including sewer and solid waste, to align with a new five-year contract with Waste Management.

City staff said the ordinance updates monthly customer charges to recover costs the city deferred since the last increase (the last local increase was described as occurring in 2019). Staff explained the proposal is intended to recover between $15,000 and $60,000 that was not collected over recent years and to cover program administration costs such as billing, postcards and a payment window. Staff said that over the life of the Waste Management contract the proposal should be approximately breakeven, with an expected small surplus that covers city staff who manage the program.

Staff said the current customer charge is about $23 per month and the ordinance would raise it to about $28 in the first year; staff separately noted Waste Management’s 2025 bid was $25.82 per month. Staff said the city plans to apply a prior sewer rate increase at the same time so customers will see both adjustments on May bills. The ordinance uses a dollar‑amount approach over the contract life rather than a simple percentage increase, staff said, and included multi-year projections that staff said remain below competing bid prices for households outside the city.

During discussion staff emphasized that the city must track monthly household counts because the per-household payments to Waste Management vary as occupancy changes. The council approved the ordinance by roll call.