Sedgwick County staff defend new solid waste fee tiers, point to rising costs and service expansions

Susan, an Environmental Resources presenter, told commissioners the county retooled solid waste fees to reflect new programs and higher operating costs. She said the county has expanded household hazardous-waste, electronic-waste and tire-collection programs and used a hauler study to redesign tiers by annual tons of waste: "Tier 5 is over 1,500 tons; Tier 4, 500 to 1,500; Tier 3, 101 to 500," Susan said. She added the household hazardous-waste program "has collected over 24,000,000 pounds of household hazardous waste" since opening.

The change is intended, staff said, to make charges align more closely with the waste a property generates. Susan explained the fee originated in 2000 and that commissioners asked staff in May 2023 to form a committee and reassess how the fee should work today. Staff described multi-year program additions — remote collection events, e-waste and tire events, and coupon-based bulky-waste disposal — as drivers of cost increases. Susan told the group the county mailed roughly 261,000 tax notices and had received 37 contacts about the new assessments.

Commissioners pressed staff on whether the fee could be structured differently. One commissioner proposed a valuation-based formula (a fraction of a mill), arguing it might feel fairer; county counsel and staff warned such an approach could conflict with statute language that bases the fee on services and waste generation rather than assessed value. Staff said the committee favored the tonnage-based tiers because hauler data clustered businesses by annual tons. The presenters asked commissioners for direction on priorities and whether staff should pursue more detailed code-by-code tier adjustments before the plan must be adopted next July.