New Garbage Contract Would Raise Fees 24%

City officials are considering a 24% increase in the monthly charge for residential trash collection as part of a pending contract agreement with a local garbage hauler.

The City Council this month is expected to consider a contract that will include an exclusive 15-year franchise for the city’s current main hauler, Palmdale Disposal Co., with rate increases likely to take effect by summer, city officials said.

Under the proposed contract, rates would climb from $11.50 to $14.25 a month per household.

City officials said much of the rate increase is associated with the demands of a state law that requires cities to reduce by 25% the amount of waste going to landfills over the next two years.

During private negotiations held over the past year, city officials and Palmdale Disposal talked about charging rates as high as $23 a month, officials said.

But recognizing that a doubling of rates would cause a public furor, the two sides began whittling down the proposed increase.

“I think we are pretty darn close to where the bottom line is,” said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford. He and other council members said some expenses originally included to justify the rate increases, such as the city attorney’s fees to negotiate the agreement, have been deleted from the calculations.

Phil Arklin, an owner of Palmdale Disposal, which also operates the 57-acre Antelope Valley Public Dump, called the proposed new rate “extremely reasonable.” He said many cities that pay for local landfills and recycling programs already are charging higher amounts.

Palmdale Disposal’s monthly rate had been $7.60 until February, 1990, when, after City Council approval, it was increased to $9.60. Then in July, 1991, the council approved a nearly 20% increase to $11.50, although Arklin said the fee hike was to pay for new 90-gallon canisters given customers.

City officials said residents will benefit under the new contract because they will be allowed to continue placing most of their garbage in a single container instead of requiring so-called curbside recycling. Many cities now require residents to separate trash into different containers.

The one exception, Arklin said, is that Palmdale residents will be asked to separate their garden waste and tie up their newspapers.

The company plans to mix the garden waste into a mulch to sell locally at reduced prices. The newspapers will be recycled.

The proposed franchise agreement would also make the company the exclusive hauler for commercial accounts and hold it liable should the city not meet the state’s recycling requirements.

The agreement would link future rate increases to the Consumer Price Index, officials said.