San Mateo council adopts 2025 solid-waste rate increases after Prop 218 hearing; 29 written protests received

San Mateo City Council voted 4-0 on March 3 to approve new solid-waste collection rates for 2025 and to appropriate $400,000 from the city's solid-waste reserves to reduce a deficit in the franchise balancing account.

The action came after a Proposition 218 protest hearing. Jack Johnson, the city's waste management supervisor, opened the staff presentation and said the increases are part of an annual cost-of-service adjustment required by the California Constitution under Proposition 218 and related state recycling and organics mandates. Johnson and consultants from HF&H explained the city faces a projected revenue shortfall of about $1.58 million for 2025 and a cumulative shortfall of roughly $1.8 million when accounting for earlier years.

Prop. 218 requires rates to be proportional to the cost of service, Johnson said, and the city has been aligning residential rates with cost of service since 2021. Rick Simonson and Gabe Sasser of HF&H detailed three components driving the 2025 revenue requirement: Recology collection cost increases, higher disposal and processing costs, and city fees that fund street sweeping and related services.

The council also approved remitting $400,000 from the city's solid-waste enterprise reserves to Recology to reduce the existing balancing-account deficit rather than shifting the full burden to ratepayers immediately. City staff said the solid-waste reserve balance was about $4.4 million at the end of the last fiscal year and that the balance can be used to smooth future rate changes.

Gary Germano, a member of the public, spoke in favor of Recology's service but expressed concern about the steady year-over-year increases; he asked how the city plans to refill reserves and whether there are options to lower costs.

City staff told the council that rate stabilization and reserve use are tools to manage multi-year deficits and that the city will continue to work with the franchise holder and the Rethink Waste joint powers authority to address longer-term capital and operational cost pressures, including Shoreway facility upgrades and zero-emission vehicle infrastructure.

City Clerk's office reported that 31,720 Prop. 218 notices were mailed to property owners on the tax roll; the majority threshold would have been 15,861 valid written protests. The clerk said the city received 29 valid written protests by the deadline, far short of a majority, so the council could lawfully adopt the proposed rates.

The council approved the rates and the appropriation in a single motion; a roll-call vote showed Mayor Newsom, Deputy Mayor Lorraine, Council Member Diaz Nash and Council Member Fernandez voting yes. The new rates are scheduled to take effect April 1, 2025, and will remain in place for one year.

Questions or requests for the full rate schedules and the Prop. 218 notice are available on the city's website and in the adopted staff materials for the March 3 meeting.