Aug 28, 2015
Over the last year and a half, I’ve had several meetings with Burrtec representatives and City staff members on the issue of trash billing. As a result of these meetings, I have come to understand the trash bill better than I ever did before I was elected. The bi-monthly residential rate for the typical household is about $42.78, but with the Cit...y subsidy of $5.18 per billing period, the bill is reduced to about $37 per billing period.
The first thing you should understand is the “City subsidy” is your money. The subsidy is paid from a surplus in the solid waste account—when the City charges more than it cost to dispose of the trash it creates a surplus in the account. So the subsidy is really the City giving you your own money back. But that subsidy does not necessarily go back to the right people. More on that in a moment.
The other thing you should know about your bi-monthly residential bill—of the $42.78 charged, only $25.62 (about 60%) goes to Burrtec, the other $17.16 (40%) goes to government. There is a franchise fee, an admin fee, a landfill fee and an AB 939 fee.
There is a fixed assessment on each account for the landfill dump fee. The amount you pay is the same if your trash barrel is full or empty. There are many single person households, or households with only two adults, such as our seniors, who never generate enough trash to fill the barrel every week and they certainly do not generate as much trash as a family of four or five. I believe these household should have the option for a smaller barrel, say a 40 gallon barrel instead of the 95 gal barrel we all currently have, and with that smaller barrel they should be charged a reduced rate for the dump fees. That would reduce the surplus in the solid waste account and would put an end to our senior citizens paying more than their fair share.
AB 939 funds the household hazardous waste program as well as the City recycling programs. AB 939 provides cities the authority to collect funds to offset the cost of recycling programs, but does not dictate the amount to be collected by the cities. It is up to each city to decide how much AB 939 money to collect. Some cities charge as little as $.75 per residential account—Barstow collects $1.76.
For several years, the City has paid for the Fourth of July celebration as a “reward” to the community for their efforts to reduce the amount of trash going to the landfill. Guess what…that is paid out of the AB 939 account. I personally believe the Independence Day celebration should be paid from the general fund rather than your monthly trash bill. Staff can always seem to find money in the general fund for pay raises, it should be no problem to find the money for our Fourth of July celebration too. We should re-examine the AB 939 account, establish appropriate recycling priorities, and reduce the amount of AB 939 money collected.
There is also a ten percent admin fee, about $1.28 per residential account. This fee was originally created to offset the cost of the City staff to process the bills and payments for the trash service. But the City transferred that function to Burrtec several years ago and never eliminated the fee. I believe the City needs to stop collecting that fee. Burrtec’s cost for bill processing is part of what they already collect as their fee for service, so you are actually paying for this service twice.
We also have to be fair to Burrtec too. They have not had a cost of living increase for several years. We need to correct that. They provide a valued service in our community, costs have increased and they should be given an increase to offset those cost. There are some administrative issues need to be corrected in the contract, and we should correct those issues too, but Burrtec has a right to a fair profit for the service they provide, and the amount they charge for their service is not unreasonable. If we reduce the amount government charges, then Burrtec and get an appropriate increase without increasing the ratepayer’s bill.
There has also been a bill pending in the California state assembly, AB 1063 that would raise the dump fees, so that Cal-Recycle can collect more money to fund their operation. As the state has increased demands on us to reduce the amount of trash that goes to our landfills, they have also seen a reduction in the money collected to fund Cal-Recycle. State continues to give Cal-Recycle more responsibility, but no additional funding. Congratulations you have done an excellent job diverting waste material from the landfills, as a reward the Governor wants you to pay more to dump a smaller amount of trash.
I sit on the Environmental Quality committee for the League of Cities and I have opposed this legislation at every meeting is has been addressed. Because of the committee’s opposition, the bill kept getting tweaked, and sent back for reconsideration. I’m happy to report the Governor has pulled the bill, but you can bet it will resurface again next year.
I do not believe that government should collect more in fees than necessary to provide the associated service. I have discussed these specific issues with the City Manager, and I hope to see Barstow reduce the amount charged to ratepayers, while paying our contractor a fair amount for the quality service we receive. I also want to see the contract with Burrtec amended to correct a few anomalies that are outside of industry standards.
I will continue to look for ways to reduce the fees that government collects and I appreciate all of the support you have shown me these last several years.
Rich Harpole
The first thing you should understand is the “City subsidy” is your money. The subsidy is paid from a surplus in the solid waste account—when the City charges more than it cost to dispose of the trash it creates a surplus in the account. So the subsidy is really the City giving you your own money back. But that subsidy does not necessarily go back to the right people. More on that in a moment.
The other thing you should know about your bi-monthly residential bill—of the $42.78 charged, only $25.62 (about 60%) goes to Burrtec, the other $17.16 (40%) goes to government. There is a franchise fee, an admin fee, a landfill fee and an AB 939 fee.
There is a fixed assessment on each account for the landfill dump fee. The amount you pay is the same if your trash barrel is full or empty. There are many single person households, or households with only two adults, such as our seniors, who never generate enough trash to fill the barrel every week and they certainly do not generate as much trash as a family of four or five. I believe these household should have the option for a smaller barrel, say a 40 gallon barrel instead of the 95 gal barrel we all currently have, and with that smaller barrel they should be charged a reduced rate for the dump fees. That would reduce the surplus in the solid waste account and would put an end to our senior citizens paying more than their fair share.
AB 939 funds the household hazardous waste program as well as the City recycling programs. AB 939 provides cities the authority to collect funds to offset the cost of recycling programs, but does not dictate the amount to be collected by the cities. It is up to each city to decide how much AB 939 money to collect. Some cities charge as little as $.75 per residential account—Barstow collects $1.76.
For several years, the City has paid for the Fourth of July celebration as a “reward” to the community for their efforts to reduce the amount of trash going to the landfill. Guess what…that is paid out of the AB 939 account. I personally believe the Independence Day celebration should be paid from the general fund rather than your monthly trash bill. Staff can always seem to find money in the general fund for pay raises, it should be no problem to find the money for our Fourth of July celebration too. We should re-examine the AB 939 account, establish appropriate recycling priorities, and reduce the amount of AB 939 money collected.
There is also a ten percent admin fee, about $1.28 per residential account. This fee was originally created to offset the cost of the City staff to process the bills and payments for the trash service. But the City transferred that function to Burrtec several years ago and never eliminated the fee. I believe the City needs to stop collecting that fee. Burrtec’s cost for bill processing is part of what they already collect as their fee for service, so you are actually paying for this service twice.
We also have to be fair to Burrtec too. They have not had a cost of living increase for several years. We need to correct that. They provide a valued service in our community, costs have increased and they should be given an increase to offset those cost. There are some administrative issues need to be corrected in the contract, and we should correct those issues too, but Burrtec has a right to a fair profit for the service they provide, and the amount they charge for their service is not unreasonable. If we reduce the amount government charges, then Burrtec and get an appropriate increase without increasing the ratepayer’s bill.
There has also been a bill pending in the California state assembly, AB 1063 that would raise the dump fees, so that Cal-Recycle can collect more money to fund their operation. As the state has increased demands on us to reduce the amount of trash that goes to our landfills, they have also seen a reduction in the money collected to fund Cal-Recycle. State continues to give Cal-Recycle more responsibility, but no additional funding. Congratulations you have done an excellent job diverting waste material from the landfills, as a reward the Governor wants you to pay more to dump a smaller amount of trash.
I sit on the Environmental Quality committee for the League of Cities and I have opposed this legislation at every meeting is has been addressed. Because of the committee’s opposition, the bill kept getting tweaked, and sent back for reconsideration. I’m happy to report the Governor has pulled the bill, but you can bet it will resurface again next year.
I do not believe that government should collect more in fees than necessary to provide the associated service. I have discussed these specific issues with the City Manager, and I hope to see Barstow reduce the amount charged to ratepayers, while paying our contractor a fair amount for the quality service we receive. I also want to see the contract with Burrtec amended to correct a few anomalies that are outside of industry standards.
I will continue to look for ways to reduce the fees that government collects and I appreciate all of the support you have shown me these last several years.
Rich Harpole
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