Rural Grant County garbage fees to increase

Customers can comment

GRANT COUNTY - Consolidated Disposal Service, Inc.'s out-of-town Grant County customers can comment about next year's garbage pick-up fee increase by writing to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.

CDSI is increasing its fee by 33 cents a week for a 90-gallon residential garbage container, which most homes use, said Mark Wash, CDSI's general manager.

CDSI is required by law to propose rate changes to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for a review, he said.

The commission can raise or lower rates, he said. He added the commission has lowered rates in the past, but he hasn't seen them raise rates.

The rate increase is happening because Grant County is increasing its garbage disposal rate on Jan. 1 by 91 cents per ton to dump at the county's landfill near Ephrata.

"We're not opposed to this rate increase, the rate in Grant County is one of the lowest in the state," Walsh said. "We actually have some catching up to do with the rest of the state."

CDSI takes garbage collected outside Grant County's cities to the landfill and expects to pay $48,000 more a year to dump garbage there, Walsh said. CDSI now pays between $100,000 to $125,000 per month to dump at the landfill.

Rising fuel expenses and cleanup costs for the landfill's leaking underground barrels are some reasons for the county's increase, said Grant County Solid Waste Supervisor Janice Goeden.

CDSI's customers can comment by writing to the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, P.O. Box 47250, Olympia, WA 98504-7250, fax, 360-664-3604, e-mail, comments@wutc.wa.gov. CDSI is also accepting comments at P.O. Box 1154, Ephrata, WA 98823-1154, or at comments@cdsid.com.