Council backs halving Waste Connections' CPI pass-through and targeting a few commercial overfillers

Waste Connections representatives told Manville council they planned to implement a contract-allowed CPI and disposal-cost adjustment of 5.10% to the city's service rates in the July billing cycle. Company representatives proposed an alternative approach: halve the percentage passed to residential customers and instead enforce an overage fee targeted at commercial accounts that repeatedly overfill dumpsters.

Representatives said only a small number of commercial customers (estimated 7—8) generate a large share of excess disposal events. Elden Cologne, a company supervisor, said the proposal is intended to correct behavior: customers would receive notice and an opportunity to fix service levels or select a larger container before being charged an overage fee.

Council response and next steps: council members, including Mayor Pro Tem David Lans, expressed support for the compromise, noting that shifting a full 5.1% increase to all customers because of a few heavy commercial users would be inequitable. Tammy (city staff) explained that adding an overage fee into the franchise would require an ordinance change (two readings) but that Waste Connections could implement a contractual fee structure and issue notices under current agreements; the council indicated consensus to direct staff to proceed with the reduced pass-through and to have Waste Connections flag repeat offenders and implement corrective notices and fees where necessary.

What remains open: the council did not take a formal ordinance vote at the meeting; staff said the fee could be implemented as a service-level enforcement under the franchise agreement or added to the franchise by ordinance with two readings. Council asked for documentation identifying the specific commercial customers and the estimated revenue/impact model before any formal change is codified.