San Jose Considers Rate Hike For Garbage Service

Campbell CA

23 February, 2021

4:36 PM

Description

By Carly Wipf, San Jose Spotlight February 22, 2021 San Jose residents may be facing another unexpected consequence of the pandemic: Higher garbage bills. The city is working double time to collect weekly trash, which has only increased since people became more confined to their homes. As a result, residential garbage and recycling rates could increase up to $8.21 per month or $98.52 per year, according to a recent city report. The proposed increases will give San Jose residents a higher bill than some other cities in the region, including Santa Clara and Fremont. Rates for the 32-gallon garbage bin, used by 90% of households, could jump to $47.33 a month from $39.12 now. More than half a million tons of waste are collected each year from more than 320,000 San Jose households, the report states. Contracted garbage collectors have handled 10% more waste during the pandemic while giving San Jose a one-time 1% break on costs, saving the city $1.15 million, according to the report. City waste services also include yard trimming collection, composting, used oil collection and processing waste to remove organics and recyclables — which gives San Jose one of the highest recycling rates in the country. According to a memo by Kerrie Romanow, director of the Environmental Services Department, the city is looking at ways to keep garbage bills from climbing. Potential federal relief funds may be available to help in coming months but in the meantime Romanow proposed limiting junk pickup services — where residents can have large items such as mattresses, sofas, refrigerators and tires hauled away — to two, three-item pickups per year. Currently, there is no limit to these pickups. Residents can schedule them year-round. But use of junk collection services is up by a record-breaking 400% since the pandemic started. Romanow said cutting these services could be expensive if residents have to pay separately to get rid of extra items. Another option is to reduce filtering trash to separate recyclables. "Given the unprecedented challenges and economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the city is continuing to pursue several options for ratepayer cost reductions to reduce proposed rate increases for 2021-2022 as much as possible," Romanow said. The proposed rate increases will be discussed at Tuesday's City Council meeting, which begins at 1:30 p.m. and can be viewed on the city's YouTube channel. Contact Carly Wipf at [email protected] or follow @CarlyChristineW on Twitter.