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Mount Healthy officials warn residents of higher trash service cost under proposed Rumpke contract
Summary
City Manager Bauer told council a new multi-town Rumpke contract would raise the city’s per-residence cost from about $15.87 to $19 starting March 1, 2026; council discussed recycling frequency, optional yard-waste pickup and potential apartment-contract arrangements and directed staff to work with Water Works on billing.
City Manager Bauer told the Mt. Healthy City Council on Aug. 19 that a newly negotiated, multi-jurisdiction Rumpke solid-waste contract would increase the city’s cost per residence to about $19 per month beginning March 1, 2026.
Bauer said the city now pays roughly $15.87 per residence and that the new quote — the product of a three-year contract with two automatic renewal years — would raise the city-side cost. "Starting in 2026 on March 1, it'll go to $19 in total to have your solid waste and your recycling picked up every week," Bauer said, noting annual increases would continue thereafter.
Council discussed service-level choices offered in the contract, including weekly versus every-other-week recycling and an optional seasonal yard-waste pickup quoted at $1 per residence per month. Bauer said the yard-waste option would be seasonal and limited to specific materials and bag rules. He also noted the contract could include larger apartment complexes, which might be added at a dumpster rate; staff said inclusion would likely not change the residential rate but could shift administrative collection responsibility to owners or property managers.
Council members asked how the city would pass costs to residents and whether Water Works would continue to bill garbage charges; Bauer said he would coordinate with Water Works over the next six months to determine billing flow and the final customer charge (Water Works typically charges a 5% fee for billing). One councilmember estimated a possible resident bill around $22.23 if the city absorbed the full new cost plus Water Works fees.
Bauer said Rumpke had been the only bidder in the joint procurement and that benchmark contracts no longer featured fixed five-year rates. He said the current Rumpke five-year fixed rate arrangement had expired and the city was part of a bidding group of municipalities.
No formal council vote was taken on the contract terms at the meeting; Bauer said the existing contract runs through Feb. 28 and that council would have time to decide before the new contract begins in March.
