York City committee moves 34% residential refuse fee increase, effective July 1

A York City Public Works Committee meeting on May 28, 2025 moved a resolution to the City Council’s June 3 legislative agenda that would raise refuse collection fees effective July 1, 2025.

Environmental services staff told the committee the increases respond to higher collection contract costs and updated 2025 expense estimates. “So totaling that all up, there is a little bit of additional revenue that's budgeted out of this department specifically for some hazardous waste, permits, and, for, the revenue that comes in for the resale of, the the recycling cans and such. So subtracting that out, I was able to determine that we needed just under 6,500,000.0 for the entire year,” the staff member said, summarizing the budget work that generated the proposed rate changes.

The proposed changes in the resolution are: residential quarterly collection from $82.05 to $110 (about a 34% increase); commercial quarterly collection from $164.10 to $220 (about a 34% increase); and the administrative fee from $26.25 to $45 per quarter (a 71% increase). The staff said the changes are intended to cover the remainder of 2025 and align future annual budget work for 2026 and beyond.

Why it matters: City staff said the new collection contract and actual 2025 expenses left a gap the current rates would not cover. The city brought billing back in-house and cleaned up unit counts, which staff said may moderate future increases, but they also noted multi-year cost pressures in the new collection contract.

Council members asked whether rates could fall in later years. Environmental services staff replied that decreases are possible if unit counts or department costs change, but, “because of the known increases for the next, what, 5 years for the collections contract, I'm not guessing that that's going to to be, that's gonna happen.”

The committee discussed that the fee adjustments would cover two billing quarters in 2025 (effective July 1) and would be considered during the annual budgeting process for subsequent years. A motion to place the resolution on the June 3 legislative agenda was made, seconded and approved by voice vote, with committee members responding “Aye.”

Clarifying details from the meeting: the increases were calculated using prorated costs across two collection contracts (four months under the outgoing contract and eight months under the new contract), landfill and disposal expenses, a small allowance for waste tire disposal, and remaining environmental services administration and sanitation workforce costs. The staff emphasized the administrative fee increase was intended to better reflect the department’s administration burden.

Next steps: The resolution will appear on the City Council’s June 3, 2025 legislative agenda for formal consideration and vote.