Burlingame Reluctantly Raises Garbage Rates

Burlingame residents spoke out against a proposed 25 percent increase in garbage rates for 2012 Tuesday night, but failed in preventing the hikes.

Regardless of council agreement that increased rates are far from ideal, few options beyond raising rates seemed available, according to information presented by the Burlingame Finance Director, Jesus Nava. As a member of the 12-city South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), Burlingame must pay certain expenses and abide by certain requirements.

Nava said if the council members failed to raise rates, they would still need to find a way to pay Recology, the garbage service provider for the SBWMA since 2010.

One of the main issues at hand was the drop in commercial waste revenue, which historically padded waste funding in Burlingame enough to keep residential rates low. With the economy down, commercial production--and therefore waste--is down, as well.

“Commercial revenue will continue to fluctuate with the economy,” said Nava. “The expectation is to hopefully see revenue regain as the economy continues to expand.”

Another issue discussed was the differing residential rates depending on garbage can size. As more people migrate to smaller cans at lower rates, residents pay less, but the cost of collecting garbage remain the same.

“[It costs] the same to pick up a 20-gallon can as a 90-gallon can,” Nava said. “But we price it much differently, and that is becoming an issue.”

Councilmember Terry Nagel noted that in East Palo Alto, all residents are required to pay one fee with a one-size container. She suggested Burlingame could follow a similar path or find some way of making waste collection more equitable, perhaps by charging a base service fee with incremental increases based on the size of the container.

Nava also said that although rates must go up, Recology is not to blame, as the company’s expenses remain almost the same as in 2011.

This prompted frustration over where these increases are coming from and how Burlingame can plan for future expenditures without continually rising rates.

“What I’m trying to get to is expectations,” said Councilmember Michael Brownrigg. “When does it end?...[SBWMA is] the ones that need to level with us.”

He called for an earlier discussion of rates next year.

Mayor Jerry Deal was similarly upset that Burlingame was paying for joint decisions it disagreed with, when a two-thirds vote by SBWMA members or millions of dollars is necessary to leave the group. However, he said SBWMA was not entirely to blame, as there were mistakes made by Burlingame in initially setting rates that turned out to be unrealistic.

The 25 percent increase is necessary for three reasons. Ten percent is for the increased costs of waste and recycling collection in 2012, including costs associated with the SBWMA. Another 10 percent will make up for shortfalls in revenue from 2011. At the time, Burlingame instituted a 17 percent increase in rates. However, Burlingame still had a 2011 revenue shortfall of $798,494. The final five percent will cover variations in service subscriptions, which customers can modify based on their waste needs. Garbage collection for smaller bins is provided at a cheaper rate, so lost revenue must be taken into account.

Residents were noticed in November regarding the proposed rate change and had until Tuesday to submit a protest. Only 44 protests were received.