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County staff: Salinas Valley commercial disposal rates higher largely because of disposal and transport costs; board to seek joint review
Summary
County environmental health staff told supervisors commercial hauling rates are about 35% higher in the Salinas Valley region than on the Peninsula, driven mainly by higher disposal and transfer-station fees and longer, less-dense routes. The board directed staff to meet with regional partners and return with a joint analysis.
Monterey County supervisors heard an update April 22 on differences in commercial solid-waste hauling rates under the new unified franchise agreement and asked staff to convene the parties for another joint review.
Environmental Health Director Rick Encarnacion told the board the county compared commercial disposal costs between the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority (East) and the Monterey Regional Waste Management District (West) after the county’s unified franchise agreement (UFA) with Waste Management took effect. Encarnacion said the East’s average commercial disposal rate was about $123 per ton in 2024 versus $70 per ton in the West — a difference the presentation characterized as about 35% on average across service types.
Encarnacion and Waste Management representative Eric Lynch said the disparity is driven primarily by higher disposal and transfer-station fees in the East (including AB 939-related costs and other facility fees), longer route mileage, and lower customer density. Lynch explained that a single driver’s 8–10 hour route can generate substantially different revenue and cost per route when it serves 498 containers (East example) versus about 807 containers (West example); lower density increases fuel use, driver hours and vehicle maintenance per ton collected. Patrick Matthews, manager of the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, said his agency would like an open, collaborative meeting among the county, the authority and Waste Management to reconcile different analyses.
The staff recommendation was to retain the current regional rate structure rather than standardize rates across the East and West, because standardizing would shift costs to West-side customers and “misalign costs with actual service delivery,” the presentation said.
After public comment and discussion, Supervisor Glenn Church said he still lacked clarity about why commercial but not residential rates showed large differences and asked for a technical meeting to reconcile competing analyses. The board directed staff to convene a joint meeting with representatives of the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, Waste Management and other stakeholders to try to reach consensus on the analytic approach and return to the board with findings.
The county’s presentation and follow-up materials will be posted on the county website; staff said they will schedule the requested meeting and bring results back to the board for a future decision.
Ending: Supervisors said they want a convening that includes the two regional entities and Waste Management so that the math and allocation methods can be reconciled before any rate policy changes are proposed.
