Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Waste Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sanford approves Waste Pro rate adjustment amid landfill cost debate
Summary
After staff recommended denying an extraordinary rate adjustment tied to county landfill fee increases, the commission approved Waste Pro's request. Waste Pro said CPI caps and recent county tipping-fee hikes made the change necessary; staff said billing impacts to residents would be modest (about $0.23/month).
The Sanford City Commission voted Feb. 10 to approve Waste Pro's request for an extraordinary rate adjustment, after a disputed presentation about whether recent Seminole County landfill fee increases constituted an "extraordinary" factor.
Brent Johnson, the city's Public Works and Utilities director, told commissioners staff viewed the landfill-cost increases as part of routine business and initially recommended denying the request. "We consider this the cost of doing business, and, therefore, we have denied their request," Johnson said during his presentation on the contract and recent adjustments.
Tim Dolan, speaking for Waste Pro, said the company has absorbed multiple capped consumer price index (CPI) adjustments in recent years and that the county landfill's sudden increases have created an exceptional operational burden. "For over 20 years, the Seminole County landfill never changed," Dolan said. "All of a sudden here in the last couple of years, the county has decided to raise their landfill rates ... this rate's never changed up until a couple of years ago, so we do find it extraordinary." He said the company had foregone CPIs previously and was absorbing negative variances because contract CPI caps limited recoverable costs.
Commissioners questioned the monthly impact on residents. Staff and Waste Pro provided line-item impacts: staff estimated a typical residential customer would see about a $0.23 increase per month tied to the tipping-fee line item; other customer classes (front-load cubic yard and roll-off) face higher per-account changes (staff cited roughly $0.31/month and $2.08 per roll-off disposal respectively). One commissioner parsed billing comparisons with nearby jurisdictions and noted that Sanford's overall Waste Pro rates remained below some neighboring contracts even after the change.
Despite staff's initial recommendation to deny, the commission moved to approve the rate adjustment after discussion and public explanation from Waste Pro. The motion carried by voice vote.
What this means: The approved adjustment is intended to allow Waste Pro to cover higher disposal costs driven by county landfill rate changes and to reduce the operator's exposure to capped CPI recoveries going back through recent years. City staff said they will monitor billing impacts and contract compliance going forward.
