El Cerrito Garbage Rates Going Up?

The El Cerrito City Council Tuesday night will consider whether to raise rates for the curbside pick-up of garbage, green waste and recycling materials.

The new fees, if approved, would be effective Jan. 1. The monthly rate for garbage and green waste for a typical home with a 35-gallon garbage container would rise to $23.08 from the current $21.61, while the rate for curbside recycling pick-up would go to $8.75 from the current $8.64, according to a staff report prepared for the meeting. (The report is attached to this article.)

The boost for all three containers would be 5.2 percent.

Those with 20-gallon garbage containers would see their monthly bill for garbage and green waste rise to $16.13 from the current $13.64, while the recycling rate would increase to $8.75 from the current $8.54.

The cumulative increase for all three containers for households with 20-gallon garbage cans would be 12.2 percent.

The council will hold a public hearing on the rates before taking a vote.

The number of customers using 35-gallon garbage containers is 6,260, while those with 20-gallon mini-cans number 3,272, according to the staff report. Only 484 use the large, 64-gallon container, the report says.

The last time rates increased was on Jan. 1, 2011. No rate increases occurred in 2012 since the city was conducting a long-term rate and operations review, which resulted in a revised and extended contract with El Cerrito's long-time waste hauler, East Bay Sanitary, that was approved by the council on Nov. 20.

East Bay Sanitary collects garbage (in blue containers) and green waste (in green cans), while the city uses its own trucks to pick up recycling materials (in gray cans). The fees for all three services are consolidated into a single bill that East Bay Sanitary sends to customers. The rate for the recycling materials is called the Integrated Waste Management Fee.

The new contract with East Bay Sanitary allows for future rate increases to be adjusted up or down depending on whether the company's profit exceeds or falls short of the margin agreed to in the contract.

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