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Brea council weighs solid-waste rate increases, Republic Services package to meet SB 1383
Summary
City staff and Republic Services presented a package of rate adjustments and contract changes intended to bring Brea into compliance with California’s SB 1383. Council members objected to an extra 0.75% commercial surcharge and debated timing of the index change; no final vote was taken.
Brea City Council spent the largest portion of its Feb. 18 meeting reviewing proposed solid-waste and recycling service rate adjustments and a revised franchise agreement with Republic Services intended to bring the city into compliance with California’s Senate Bill 1383.
Senior management analyst Matt told the council the revised proposal would shorten the transition from the consumer price index to a garbage/trash collection index for residential accounts and accelerate the commercial transition, while also asking for an additional 0.75 percentage point on commercial rates for years two through six. Matt said staff’s recommended residential curbside rate would rise from about $27.80 to $31.27, an increase the staff estimated at roughly 17%, and that the recommended residential rate would still leave an estimated first‑year under‑recovery of about $158,930 that the general fund would need to subsidize.
Council members asked several questions about flow control, indexing and the source of the proposed increases. One council member who had served on the negotiating subcommittee said neither they nor Councilmember Vargas had agreed to surrender commercial organic flow control and asked who had made that concession. “At no point did either one of us give up any type of flow control,” the council member said, pressing staff for clarity.
Representatives from Republic Services, including area municipal manager Steven Herring, said the package before council is intended to achieve SB 1383 compliance. Herring told the council compliance will require new vehicles, containers and additional staff for education and outreach; he said the company believed the timetable could put residential compliance in March and commercial compliance in July. “The package in front of you today gets us there,” Herring said, while also acknowledging Republic would need to regroup if council asked for different terms.
Several council members objected to adding an “arbitrary” 0.75 percentage point to commercial rates. “I cannot support any adjustment that just arbitrarily adds an additional amount to this new index,” one councilmember said, urging Republic to consider removing the surcharge. Councilmember Christine (first name only in the transcript) said that if the 0.75% were removed she could support moving to a vote.
Staff and Republic also discussed how the proposed indexing assumption was developed: Matt said staff used a historical average for the garbage/trash index (about 3.7% from 2015–2023) and rounded to 4% for projection simplicity. Republic said the change reflects industry‑specific costs and the state’s expanded organic‑waste requirements.
No formal council vote was taken on the franchise amendment or the rate adjustments. The city attorney noted the public hearing had already closed, so the council can place the item on a future agenda for final action after Republic and staff return with any revised terms. The council directed staff to provide proposed revisions in advance of any future meeting.
