Washington County advisory panel backs staff rate increases, urges system modernization and a feasibility study

The Garbage and Recycling Advisory Committee on May 21 voted to forward Washington County staff’s proposed 2025 rate adjustments to the Board of Commissioners, approving staff’s recommended increases and adding two amendments asking the Board to prioritize a longer‑term modernization review and to fund a can‑cart rate feasibility study when budgeting allows.

Erin Stein, the county’s senior policy coordinator, told the committee that the system’s 2025 totals showed $47,802,521 in revenue and a composite return on revenue of 6.38%, below the staff target of 10% that guides annual adjustments. “When we look at the individual lines of service, residential came in at 6.82%, commercial at 5.28% and dropbox at 5.92%,” Stein said, and recommended changes that would move the system back toward the 10% target.

Staff’s package includes a 3.5% increase to urban can‑cart (residential) service, an additional 2.1% one‑time rural adjustment (bringing rural can‑cart to 5.6% total), a 5.2% increase for containerized commercial service, a 4.5% increase for dropbox/compactor service and a one‑time adjustment of the refrigerant‑containing device fee to $42.50 per item. Because of the December 2024 closure of the region’s only medical‑waste incinerator, Stein said staff recommends a large medical‑waste increase — roughly 24–25% — to cover sharply higher transportation and disposal costs.

County staff emphasized that the rate proposals are system‑level adjustments derived from an annual cost‑of‑service and return‑on‑revenue methodology applied across eight certificated haulers. “We take the full average of the eight to get that total return on revenue,” Stein said, explaining that the county does not reset each hauler individually to the 10% target but adjusts the composite result.

Local haulers told the committee they supported reasonable rate increases. Rich Weitzel, president and co‑owner of SWOTCO Sanitary Service, said his company’s rural operations face especially high fuel costs — “the cost of fuel for SWOTCO in April was 55 percent higher than a year ago in April” — and voiced support for the staff package, while also pointing to other inflationary pressures such as new glass processing fees and insurance. Carrie Walker McCullough, representing Walker Garbage Service and the Washington County Haulers Association, said rising insurance expenses and union wages, plus investments in automated trucks, have increased costs and that approving measured adjustments avoids larger future spikes.

Committee members pressed staff on the drivers of year‑to‑year variation across haulers. Stein and the committee’s rate consultant explained that equipment depreciation, large capital purchases, differences in service mixes (urban vs. rural and commercial exposure), and bad debt write‑offs (often from move‑outs or one‑time Dropbox defaults) account for variance beyond fuel costs alone.

Several committee members urged a broader review of the system. Committee member Brian Saint John moved to attach a recommendation that the Board prioritize a modernization and strategic review of the county’s franchise model and rate structure; Sandra Smith seconded and the committee adopted the attachment. The committee also approved an amendment requesting a can‑cart rate feasibility study when budgeting allows (members recorded a 4–3 vote on that amendment). Finally the committee voted to forward the staff’s rate package, with the two amendments, to the Board for consideration at the June 9 work session and the June 23 board meeting; staff stated the proposed effective date in materials is August 1, 2026.

What happens next: staff will finalize the report and materials for the Board work session on June 9 and the board hearing on June 23. The committee’s recommendation asks the Board to both adopt the rate adjustments and to prioritize a longer‑term assessment of system modernization and a feasibility study of can‑cart rate structure.

The meeting included roughly two dozen public comments and hauler representatives; committee members requested additional analysis on the programmatic costs of Recycle Plus and the potential future disposition of the $2/month recycling surcharge as RMA outcomes mature.