Dothan City reviews steep solid‑waste shortfall and options including fee hikes, bi‑weekly pickup and recycling cuts

Dothan City officials reviewed a staff presentation June 11 showing the municipal solid waste collections fund would require multi‑million dollar general‑fund transfers under current service levels and discussed several options for bringing the fund to self‑sufficiency.

City Manager (unnamed in the transcript) opened the session by framing the issue as one of rising operating costs that have left the solid waste fund subsidized by the general fund. "The city of Dothan provides outstanding solid waste collection services to our citizens and it is our intent to continue to do that regardless of what happens with these potential fee increases," he said, and asked staff to explain options to make the fund "self‑sustaining."

Ramona Marcus, the director leading the presentation, told commissioners the solid waste collections fund covers garbage pickup, bulk/limb/debris pickup and curbside recycling and that the city serves approximately 27,000 households. She said the current monthly household fee — implemented in March 2013 — is $14.75, and the presentation showed that fee generates about $4.7 million annually while the projected revenue requirement for 2027 was shown as roughly $11.2 million, leaving a general‑fund transfer of about $6 million in staff projections.

Staff presented several scenarios to close that gap. One preserves current weekly service and raises the monthly fee to $20 in 2027 with scheduled annual increases; another raises the fee to $25 in 2027. According to the presentation, those scenarios would reach fund break‑even at different years (materials listed break‑even in 2030–2031 depending on the option). "With this scenario, we would cover our cost one year earlier in 2030 versus 2031," Marcus said when contrasting the $20 and $25 options.

A second major option would reduce collection frequency to bi‑weekly for trash and recycling. Staff estimated bi‑weekly service would save about $15.4 million over 10 years (roughly $10 million from trash and nearly $5 million from recycling) and presented lower per‑household cost projections under that approach. Tommy, the operations presenter, described a red/blue zone routing model to implement bi‑weekly pickup and said the city would seek to realize labor savings through attrition rather than layoffs.

Staff also proposed charging a $10 monthly fee for a second garbage cart and a $10 monthly recycling cart fee; staff stated there are currently roughly 500 second‑cart customers but corrected that figure in discussion to 5,000. Charging for recycling, staff warned, could reduce participation (staff estimated at least a 50% decline in recycling participation if a fee were imposed) and would require ongoing monitoring because processor and hauling markets are volatile.

Marcus described the city's curbside recycling stream as a 'dirty' stream that requires hand‑sorting by the processor in Montgomery. Staff said hauling and processor charges vary by tonnage and presented approximate per‑load costs (presenter cited an example around $1,000 per haul plus about $500 per load processing at the Montgomery facility), noting that market shutdowns at the processor cause operational problems for Dothan.

Other alternatives included converting curbside recycling to staffed drop‑off centers or discontinuing curbside recycling entirely; staff estimated the latter would produce larger short‑term savings but would eliminate a public recycling option. On bulk waste and green‑waste management, staff proposed separating green waste from mixed bulk waste, using a ticketing system for large bulk items and considering an incineration or alternative disposal option to conserve limited C&D cell capacity at the city landfill.

No ordinance or fee change was proposed for immediate adoption at the work session; commissioners asked clarifying questions about implementation, resident impact and equity for households that do not use curbside services. The city manager said the presentation and a citizen survey will be posted on the city's website and shared via social media and the mobile app to solicit resident feedback before any formal action.

The work session was informational and concluded without a vote.