Trash Service Fee Hikes Proposed For Unincorporated Pass Areas

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Despite a supervisor's push to delay action until cost reduction measures might be considered, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday set a May 10 public hearing on a series of proposed hikes to trash collection fees throughout Riverside County's unincorporated communities.

The board will consider across-the-board increases topping out around 8% sought by the four waste haulers under contract with the county -- Burrtec Waste, CR&R Inc., Desert Valley Disposal and Waste Management Inc.

According to Department of Environmental Health Director Jeff Johnson, the adjustments are necessary to keep pace with inflation, which federal consumer price data showed jumping 8.6% between January 2021 and January 2022 in the region. The waste haulers are permitted to seek rate adjustments every year based on rising landfill, transportation and other costs.

"Our region has a very high consumer price index," Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. "Who knew six months ago that we would be witnessing these escalating increases in inflation?"

Spiegel said the "trying financial times" demanded that the board do "what's best on behalf of our residents," and she said based on that, a study session should be convened ahead of any public hearings on hiking waste collection rates.

"We need to look at the whole picture, not just piecemeal," the supervisor said. "We're not having that conversation on behalf of our constituents. We need to do what's best for them."

The board rarely denies adjustment requests. However, in 2020, Supervisor Kevin Jeffries opposed increases, arguing that financial hardships tied to the coronavirus public health lockdowns made it an inopportune time to hike fees on county residents. The increases were approved despite his opposition.

The Burrtec hike would boost customers' monthly rates from an average $26.60 to $28.07.
Residents serviced by CR&R would see their bills go from between $27.37 and $39.34, to between $29.64 and $42.65.

Desert Valley Disposal customers would go from paying an average $27.49 to $29.52, and Waste Management's new fee structure would increase from between $23.36 and $26.16, to between $25.37 and $28.41 per month for residential collections, according to the Department of Environmental Health.

Waste collection for the county occurs in defined "franchise areas," which currently number 11 and encompass communities such as Bermuda Dunes, Cabazon, Desert Center, East Hemet, French Valley, Lakeland Village, Nuevo, Thermal, Thousand Palms and Winchester. Most of the existing franchise agreements have been in place since the 1990s.

Jeffries wondered whether municipalities, which negotiate separate service agreements with the waste haulers, will be under the same cost pressures, and Johnson acknowledged that their terms might be different.

Jeffries said one of the reasons the county recently put the waste haulers on notice that their franchise contracts would be terminated in six years was to have some bargaining power in negotiating better rates.

Johnson and Department of Waste Resources Director Hans Kernkamp told the board that state regulations are additionally fueling higher landfill costs that will be passed on to consumers. On Jan. 1, Senate Bill 1383 took effect, mandating that organic waste -- mostly discarded food -- be reduced, or diverted, to conserve space and reduce methane pollution.

The state target is a 75% reduction from 2014 levels of organic waste in landfills by 2025.

To meet compliance mandates of separating out organics from other garbage, as well as contend with inflationary pressures, the Department of Waste Resources is seeking fee increases in excess of 8% -- in some cases three or four times that amount -- for unloading bulk and other refuse at landfills.

The board is set to consider those fee hikes in a separate hearing on May 24.

"We have the highest inflation we've seen in decades, and then you add SB 1383 into the mix, and it's the perfect storm," board Chairman Jeff Hewitt said. "There's only so much we can push people in these hard times."

A CR&R representative told the board that the company remains willing to answer "very tough, challenging questions" before any fee hikes are authorized, but he asked that the hearing go ahead on May 10 without a study session, because otherwise CR&R potentially would be burdened with paying higher disposal rates without any means of passing those costs on to customers.

Hewitt voted for the schedule to stay on track, and Supervisors Jeffries and Manuel Perez agreed. Spiegel voted against the hearing schedule. Supervisor Chuck Washington was absent from the meeting.