County Trash Service Fees Expected to Increase

MANATEE – Manatee County Commissioners are facing a time crunch to make some of the most important decisions they may face during their terms. The decisions are ones that will directly impact county residents' pocketbooks and utility services. On Tuesday, the commission held a work session/special meeting to discuss "all things utilities" where commissioners received presentations and options for consideration regarding solid waste and recycling.

During the morning session, commissioners were informed by staff that the county’s current contract with trash haulers was due to expire in September of this year–leaving policymakers little time to make the critical decisions before them.

Consultant Mitch Kessler and project manager Bethany Jewell explained to commissioners on Tuesday that several factors are playing a role in the rising costs of providing residents and businesses with trash services. Along with manufacturing delays and expenses, truck and equipment costs, fuel costs, labor shortages, and inflation, the county’s rapid growth and number of customers needing the service is also impacting overall expenses. Decisions facing commissioners will ultimately determine how much of these increasing costs will be passed on to county residents and local businesses, and how much service may change in order to try to curve the rising costs.

The key decisions commissioners will need to make relate to three main aspects of the county’s solid waste utilities service. Commissioners must decide whether to reduce the number of garbage collections from twice per week to only once. There is also a consideration of whether those pick-ups should be automated (such as with the county’s current recycling pick-up) or remain manual.

Should commissioners decide to scale back trash service to a once-per-week schedule, county-issued trash cans will increase in size from the current 64-gallon can/bin to a larger 96-gallon can/bin. Kessler told commissioners the benefits of switching to a once a week pick up include less traffic, less wear and tear on roadways, less environmental impacts, and streamlining pick up of trash and recyclables to the same day–which Kessler and staff estimate will encourage increased recycling.

Additional considerations for commissioners should they decide to reduce trash services to once per week included how the cost of trash receptacles would be covered. For residents and businesses who produce more trash than a 96-gallon bin can hold, or for those who prefer to keep with the smaller 64-gallon bin but would require two, commissioners would need to decide whether additional bins would be charged per customer per request, or covered by the county.

The additional bins could cost roughly $85.00 for the receptacle and delivery. Commissioners could decide to charge customers who request additional bins the fees over the course of several bills in order to "break up" the expense–or they may decide the county's program will absorb the cost and provide additional trash cans/bins to residents who need them for "free."

Another of the decisions facing commissioners concerned whether the county will contract with one or two trash haulers and into how many service areas the county would be divided. Considerations meant to address overall costs to consumers included whether to eliminate bulk trash pick-up services while switching over to a direct billing system. With direct billing, customers who utilize the bulk disposal service would pay per use. Another potential option would be to offer customers one annual "free" bulk pick-up.

In addition to bulk trash pick-up, commissioners were asked to consider reductions to the amount of yard waste currently permitted to be placed out by residents for trash haulers.

While there was a lengthy discussion and debate on Tuesday, no decisions were made by commissioners. A future work session or special meeting will be scheduled in the near future. Commissioners mostly agreed additional time was needed to weigh the information and options presented to the board Tuesday and to hear from constituents. No matter what commissioners ultimately decide concerning the frequency of service and the specific services included in the county's solid waste program, it seemed clear on Tuesday that residents should be anticipating a price increase for services.

The county’s current contract with haulers was initiated in 2008, renegotiated in 2016, and expires in September of this year. The current rate paid by local consumers for hauling fees is $9.25 per customer, per month. The current rate per customer could rise by five or more dollars per month.

The county’s current waste hauler contract includes manual residential bulk and general trash pick-up twice per week. General trash pick-up is unlimited while bulk trash is limited to two items per pick-up day. Recycling and yard waste are hauled once per week, with no restriction on the amount. Commercial accounts/customers are only provided general trash service.

With the current contract approaching its expiration, county staff began looking into options for renegotiation or extension of the existing contract in 2019, but a renewal or extension was deemed unfeasible. With a new service provider and established services required to be in place by October 2023, the county initiated a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April 2022.

The RFP sought a 10-year contract with a renewal option, which included an increase to three service areas, and proposed pricing for trash service pick-up once a week vs the current twice-a-week model. By June 2022, the county received five responses to the RFP, and a county-led negotiation committee was formed in September 2022. The negotiation committee narrowed down the proposals to two providers determined to be most qualified to meet the county’s needs, Keffer said on Tuesday.

The committee now needs commissioners to make final determinations and decisions about the proposed contracts, services provided, and fee rates in order to finalize future contracts before October.

To replay the BOCC work session discussion on utilities and trash services, click the video below.