Committee forwards proposed water, sewer and trash rate increases to full council after correction to water minimum

The Salem City Council’s ordinances committee on June 11 recommended first passage of three ordinances to raise trash, water and sewer charges, citing contract and rate-study drivers.

Committee members read Order 258, which updates certain residential and commercial trash collection fees tied to the city’s waste-management contract. Jay Carroll, the city engineer, said the trash increase is driven by the contractor’s price adjustments tied to “the consumer price index” and noted it represented roughly a 4% change from the prior year.

On water (Order 259), the committee cleared a motion to advance a 9% rate structure that would set the residential rate at $5.26 per 100 cubic feet and $7.11 for many nonresidential customers. During the staff presentation councillors identified a typographical error in the draft ordinance that would have set the quarterly minimum at an implausible $44.20. The body amended the ordinance to set the minimum quarterly residential charge at $52.54 — a 9% increase consistent with the 2023 water and sewer rate study — and then voted to send the amended measure to the full council with a positive recommendation.

Order 260, which would increase sewer user charges to $8.70 per 100 cubic feet for residential customers and raise several non‑residential tiers, also received a positive committee recommendation.

In public comment resident Josiah Guthrie urged councillors to be mindful of affordability, noting that “trash [is] a 4% increase, [and] 9% increase on water rates” while wages may not rise at the same pace. The committee chair acknowledged the equity concern but said staff had tied the increases to contract costs and multi-year projections.

Next steps: the ordinances will appear on a future full‑council agenda for first-passage votes as amended; the committee record includes staff backup and the vote tallies from the meeting.