3.3. SR 08-14-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REQUEST FOR ACTION TO ITEM NUMBER Ma or & City Council 3.3 AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY Worksession August 14, 2017 Amanda Bednar, Environmental Coordinator ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By Residential Garbage & Recycling Rate Changes Cal Portner, City Administrator REVIEWED BY Lori Ziemer, Finance Director ACTION REQUESTED 2018 Garbage Budget discussion for residential rate changes for trash and recycling BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION The City's Residential Garbage and Recycling Contract has set rates from 2012-2022 including a 3% increase for garbage collection on the even years starting in 2014 and recycling rates remaining the same until 2018 then increasing by $0.25 for the remainder of the contract. Tipping fees for trash at GRE have been steadily increasing in recent years from $56/ton in 2013, $58/ton in 2014, $64/ton in 2015 and now $75/ton since 2016. Trash and recycling rates for residents have not increased since the contract began and the Garbage fund balance has steadily been losing funds for numerous years. Staff would like to discuss adjusting the rates. Fee Structure Change: Currently the city charges residents one total sum for trash and recycling services. Recycling in Minnesota is not taxable but residential trash in Elk River is taxed at 9.75%. Staff recommends itemizing the bill to show trash service as one fee which is taxed and recycling as a second fee which is not taxed. Staff is proposing a set $4 fee for all recycling to be subtracted from the total bill cost, thus no net increase for this portion. This will clearly illustrate to residents that recycling service does come at a cost but also that trash is taxed and more costly. Rate Increase: Staff would like to discuss options for increasing residential rates in a way that provides reasonable fees and incentivizes reducing trash, while also adjusting our cash balance. The proposed fee structure would add a percentage increase based on the size of trash cart the household utilizes, with higher percentage increases for households with the larger carts. Additionally a $0.50 premium would be added to all households who have a trash cart larger than 32 gallon. As mentioned above, $4 would be allocated to recycling. The overall increase the residents would see on their bill will range from 5.47% to 15.85% based on the size of trash cart. More details are provided in the attachments. These proposed rate increases would also allow us to reduce the cost for the organics recycling program from $4 per month, to $2 per month. Staff would like to see participation increase and is hopeful that a lower fee would encourage more residents to sign up. The attached spreadsheet also illustrates how this r C:\Users\1zlerner.LLKRIVLlt1'1)\Appllata\Local\I\4icrosoft\Windo�es\'I'emporar)- Internet A�'URE Files \Content.Out) ook\9QIR1351'\SR Garbage and Recycling rate change.docx Fi