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Council signals support for Option 2 in 2025 solid-waste rates review; staff to mail Proposition 218 notices
Summary
City staff recommended, and council members gave direction to proceed with, a 2025 rate package (Option 2) that narrows the gap to cost-of-service rates and to mail Proposition 218 notices. Staff also requested authorization to use up to $400,000 of enterprise reserves to stabilize the balancing account.
City staff presented a 2025 solid-waste rate review on Jan. 13 and the City Council gave direction to proceed with the staff-recommended “Option 2,” authorizing staff to mail Proposition 218 protest notices and to use up to $400,000 from the rate stabilization reserve to reduce the shortfall in the hauler balancing account.
“Staff recommends option 2 because it best brings rates into alignment with the cost of providing the service and best manages our existing reserves to provide rate stabilization in future years,” said Jack Johnson, waste management supervisor, during the presentation. Consultants from HF&H (Gabe Sasser and Rick Simonson) outlined the revenue requirement: higher Recology collection costs (projected +8% for calendar year 2025), disposal and processing costs (+7%) and city program fees. The projected revenue requirement for 2025 was roughly $33 million; at current rates the city faced a multi-year balancing-account shortfall.
The staff package presented two residential-rate options and parallel commercial-cart increases. Under staff’s Option 2, residential subscription increases would range roughly $7.50 to $9 per month depending on cart size, plus proposed commercial cart increases for 20- and 32-gallon subscriptions. Staff said Option 2 would generate about $1.6 million in additional revenue and reduce the need to draw reserves. The staff report recommended authorizing up to $400,000 in remittance from enterprise reserves to further shrink the Recology balancing account deficit.
Council discussion was brief; members expressed support for Option 2 and asked staff to include outreach that helps single-person and fixed-income households identify whether they are over-served by container size and how to downgrade to save money. Staff agreed to prepare bill inserts and work with Recology customer service to let customers know how to change cart sizes.
Staff requested authorization to mail the Proposition 218 notices by the statutory deadline; the council directed staff to proceed and to return to the council on March 3 for the public hearing and final adoption if no successful protests are received. If adopted, new rates would go into effect April 1.
No formal roll-call vote was recorded for the direction to proceed; councilmembers expressed consensus support during the discussion and no protest threshold action was taken at Jan. 13.
