Aransas Pass staff to draft ordinance to charge transfer-station users by weight
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Summary
City staff recommended switching the transfer station to a per-pound fee (10¢/lb inside city/ETJ, 12¢/lb outside) with a $5 minimum, expanding hours and adding staff; council asked staff to bring an ordinance to the next meeting.
David Flores, a city staff member, told the Aransas Pass City Council at its April 20 workshop that the transfer station is now ready to operate on a per-pound basis and that staff want council agreement on fees before drafting an ordinance.
Flores said the recommendation is to charge $0.10 per pound for residents inside the city limits and properties in the ETJ, and $0.12 per pound for users outside the city. He said the operation would include a $5 minimum charge and that the current voucher system would be discontinued under the per-pound model: “I know there was a consensus that we’re talking about doing 10¢ a pound for people inside the city limits … but anybody outside the city limits or the ETJ would pay 12¢ a pound. … It has to be a minimum of $5 charge,” Flores said.
Councilmembers and staff discussed operational changes tied to the pricing switch. Flores and other speakers proposed expanding the transfer station’s hours to Tuesday through Saturday (closing Sunday and Monday) and adding a second staff member — the additional payroll cost was estimated at about $30,000 — to separate payment collection from traffic direction and to improve safety and throughput. Flores and others noted the vouchers, which were issued per load under the previous system, would be difficult to maintain if charging by weight.
Finance figures presented at the workshop showed the transfer station operates at a loss. One councilmember said the facility cost the city about $169,673 to run last year while generating roughly $12,000 in revenue; another figure cited the annual cost as about $150,000. Staff ran an estimate showing that, under the proposed fees and with two employees, the city could substantially reduce the transfer station’s annual deficit.
Supporters of the change said the per-pound approach would allow the city to open the station more days and accept business customers at the same per-pound rate, which could encourage community cleanup and increase weight-per-haul through compaction practices, lowering hauling costs per ton.
Council members expressed general support and asked staff to prepare an ordinance. Mary (city staff) confirmed that, if council approves the fee structure, staff will bring an ordinance to the next council meeting for formal approval.
The council directed staff to draft the ordinance and return with it for a vote at the next regular meeting.
