Sahuarita council adopts townwide residential trash ordinance and awards seven‑year contract to Waste Connections

Sahuarita’s Town Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance creating a townwide residential curbside collection program and to award a seven‑year contract to Waste Connections of Arizona.

The ordinance (No. 2025‑179) establishes an exclusive residential curbside collection system for single‑family and multifamily properties of up to four units, sets a 09/01/2025 commencement date, and authorizes staff to issue policies implementing mandatory participation, limited exemptions for existing valid HOA contracts and large‑lot commercial collections, and vacation holds. The council then approved Contract No. 250001—an initial seven‑year term with optional extensions—including weekly trash and recycling collection, four bulk pickups per year by appointment, town‑owned carts maintained by the contractor, and an annual CPI‑based escalation. Council selected the fixed‑rate pricing option.

Why it matters: Town staff argued the single‑provider model reduces street wear, vehicle trips, emissions and noise by eliminating multiple garbage fleets operating on the same residential streets; it also enables uniform fleet standards, onboard cameras and GPS, and a town call center for customer service. Staff said town ownership of carts ends the typical industry charge residents face when canceling service, because the cans become town assets.

Public comment at length: The meeting included nearly two hours of public comment on the proposal. Speakers who opposed the mandatory single‑vendor approach raised these recurring concerns: projected household rate increases for some residents, the industry practice of charging residents a fee to retrieve vendor‑owned carts at contract termination (commonly cited as $75 per cart), the loss of consumer choice and market competition, potential hardship for fixed‑income and senior households, impacts on small local haulers, and reported poor reviews of the chosen vendor. Supporters and some residents said the plan would reduce truck traffic, improve safety and increase recycling participation. Multiple speakers asked for more detailed breakdowns of the administrative fee, the CPI escalation, vacation‑hold rules and protections for snowbirds and shared accounts.

Contract details and rates: Staff presented two rate approaches: (1) an annual CPI adjustment that starts at a lower monthly charge and adjusts each year with the waste index, and (2) a higher initial fixed rate that would be held for four years then step up for the remainder of the term. Council chose the fixed‑rate structure when approving the contract; the contract documentation cited an estimated total first‑year cost to the town and customer rates in staff modeling. The contract authorizes town purchase of carts (annualized over the financing term), requires equipment inspection rights, and includes reporting and customer‑service commitments.

Vendor response: Ty Tossinson, division vice president for Waste Connections’ Arizona/New Mexico/El Paso district, described the company’s national scale and local operating model, emphasized safety programs (onboard cameras, driver coaching and a “blue‑team” contingency of experienced drivers) and said Waste Connections would not charge its existing customers termination fees as part of this transition. In contrast, staff reported mixed responses from other major providers: Waste Management indicated it would limit any pickup charge to a single cart; Republic’s position was reported as unchanged.

Council action and next steps: The council voted to adopt Ordinance No. 2025‑179 (recorded as 6‑0) and to approve Contract No. 250001 with Waste Connections on the fixed‑rate option (unanimous). Staff will finalize the contractor’s transition plan, launch customer outreach and education, purchase and distribute town‑owned carts, stand up the local call center and implement policies governing shared accounts, vacation holds, exemptions for valid HOA contracts and large‑lot commercial collections. The effective commencement date given in ordinance language is September 1, 2025.

What remains unresolved: Several residents asked for a line‑by‑line explanation of the administrative fee and the contractual CPI escalation language. A number of small haulers and residents asked for protections or compensation for retained cart assets and for clearer paths to opt out under narrow circumstances; staff said exemptions for valid preexisting HOA contracts will be honored until those contracts expire.