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Accounts committee faults contract amendment after trash contract jumps to $9.1 million
Summary
The Accounts Committee raised alarms about a Republic Services contract amendment that raised the city's trash collection cost to roughly $9.1 million, and members urged more proactive, incremental fee-setting to avoid sudden hikes for residents on fixed incomes.
The City Council's Accounts Committee on May 7 reviewed enterprise fund balances and pressed city managers over an amended trash-collection contract that has driven a large increase in refuse costs.
Chair of the Accounts Committee said the city's refuse enterprise has run persistent deficits and that a contract amendment with Republic Services raised the company's annual price from roughly $7.5 million to about $9.1 million effective July 1, 2025. The chair added that the committee expected contract changes that create new obligations to be paired with an explicit funding plan. "If you're going to negotiate a change in a contract and that is going to result in an increased financial obligation to the city, come to the city council and get the funding piece approved before you bind the city to that contract," the chair said.
Auditor Mr. Gonzalez told the committee two primary factors drove the increase: higher per-ton disposal costs and a prevailing-wage increase for refuse workers that the city must meet. "No, you're 100% correct," Mr. Gonzalez said when asked whether disposal and prevailing-wage changes accounted for the rising price.
Committee members noted the refuse enterprise's FY26 year-to-date figures were $8.7 million in revenues and $7.9 million in expenditures, and they reviewed collections data: refuse collections were reported at about 85.4% as of the meeting, with sewer and water collections in the high-70s percent range. Several members urged staff to pursue an incremental-fee approach — smaller, regular adjustments rather than infrequent large increases — to avoid sudden burdens on residents, particularly seniors and those on fixed incomes.
The committee asked the Department of Public Works, the auditor and the chief financial officer to jointly develop options that would avoid multi-year deferrals of fee increases and recommended bringing those options to the ordinance committee and the mayor for review prior to any new contract action. The committee also asked that future contract amendments include a clear funding plan before being executed.
Next steps: staff were asked to provide more detailed revenue/expense projections for the refuse enterprise and to return with concrete fee-adjustment proposals ahead of the FY27 budget deliberations.
