title
CC - Discussion of Refuse Fund Rate Increases; and (2) Direction to the City Manager as Deemed Appropriate
body
Meeting Date: May 10, 2021
Contact Person/Dept: Kim Braun
Phone Number: 310-253-6421
Fiscal Impact: Yes [x] No [] General Fund: Yes [] No [x]
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [x] Attachments: []
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [] Date:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (05/05/2021);
Department Approval: Charles D. Herbertson, PW Director/City Engineer (04/29/2021)
_____________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council ( 1) discuss Refuse Fund rate increases; and ( 2) provide direction to the City Manager as deemed appropriate.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Public Works Environmental Programs & Operations Division (EPO) is the exclusive provider of refuse, recycling and organics collection, construction and demolition
( C&D) collection programs, and transfer services to residential and commercial customers. EPO recovers its cost of operations through refuse rate charges to customers. In 2017, the City Council approved a three-year rate adjustment of seven percent (7%) annually beginning FY 17/18 through FY 2019/2020.
Since that time, the refuse rates have been outpaced by several conditions that were not projected in the last rate analysis including the rising costs in recycling fees due to the China ban; increased tonnage of organics due to SB1383; increased costs of transportation fees as a result of a new contract; and structural improvements to the transfer station tipping floor.
In 2017, China announced that it would no longer accept recyclable materials from other countries unless the contamination rate of the material was less than .5%. Recycling markets in the United States plummeted due to lack of infrastructure to process the materials. This resulted in materials recov...
Click here for full text