Council approves residential garbage fee bump

MOSES LAKE — A measure to increase the monthly rate residential garbage customers pay for 48-gallon carts was narrowly approved by the Moses Lake City Council Tuesday night.

The measure puts the monthly cost for a 48-gallon cart at $20.65, a $3.75 increase from where it previously was set. The move is estimated to produce an additional $200,000 in revenue for the city’s Solid Waste Program. The $20.65 figure is still below the cost of service for a 48-gallon cart, which has been determined to be $24.62, according to city documents.

The increase narrowly passed during Tuesday evening’s council meeting. Mayor Karen Liebrecht, Deputy Mayor David Curnel and council members Mike Riggs and Dean Hankins voted in favor of the increase, while council members Ryann Leonard, Don Myers and Daryl Jackson voted against it.

The change relates mainly to the need to balance the city’s 2019 budget. The Solid Waste Budget for 2018 was balanced before increases in the recycling/yard waste programs began and a 3 percent rate bump was approved in September, but the adjustment only covered a twin 3 percent increase in the material hauling contract.

“We also changed partners in the yard waste disposal program, with an additional cost of about $22,000,” reads a city memo. “These increases of $135,000 roughly match how far the budget is out of balance for both 2018 and 2019. (It is possible that this fund will need another interfund loan to close out 2018. This would come back to Council in late December if necessary).”

The recycling market has been in flux as of late due to a number of coinciding factors, including restrictions from China on the standards of waste the country will accept, which caused Moses Lake to go from earning $20,000 in 2017 from recycling to spending $95,000 for disposal this year.

The rate increase will begin with the city’s December billing cycle.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at rbyrd@columbiabasinherald.com.