Update: Solid Waste Fees Finalized – $336 for Large Carts, $236 for Small Carts

Council Approves 2-Tier Solid Waste Fees for FY2026, Excludes Staffing Costs

August 13, 2025

Background

Multifamily condominium owners expressed concern that the current practice of paying for curbside solid waste collection from general tax revenues is unfair to them as they pay the taxes but do not receive curbside service.

In response to the City Council’s direction to respond to this issue, City Manager Wyatt Shields proposed setting up the Solid Waste Task Force to explore fee structures where only those households using the City services would pay for this service, and all households would receive a real estate tax break for FY2026. The task force held four public meetings in June and July that the Pulse covered in two posts: Solid Waste Task Force Works on a Fee-Based Trash Collection Service ,July 16, 2025, and Trading Inequities: Proposed Trash Fees Disproportionately Burden Owners of Lower Valued Properties, July 29, 2025.

Mr. Shields presented the recommendations of the Solid Waste Task Force at the August 4, 2025, City Council work session, on behalf of the task force chair, Deputy City Manager Andy Young and Solid Waste Coordinator Lonnie Marquetti, both of whom were on vacation.

Mr. Young returned for the August 11 City Council meeting and responded to questions raised at the earlier work session.

Solid Waste Task Force recommends variable fees and a third organics bin

The Solid Waste Task Force revealed their recommendations for the first time at the August 4 meeting. Total costs and the resulting real estate tax reduction remained unchanged from the report in our post on the final task force meeting.

The task force put forward the basic variable fee structure where a lower fee is charged for a 35-gallon general trash bin and a higher price for the 65-gallon bin. (The sizes of the recycling and other bins would not factor into the fee the City charges.) The fixed costs, including curbside collection, staffing, and overhead, would be allocated equally between the trash bin sizes, but the variable costs (tipping fees) would be proportionately allocated. This fee structure fulfills the legal guidance that any difference in the fees be “fairly debatable”.

For the total cost of $1.2 million proposed by the task force, a 35-gallon bin would be $355 and a 65-gallon bin would be $390. Homeowners could save $35 by moving to a smaller trash bin. (Please refer to the earlier Pulse post for the impact on homeowners of this fee structure.)

The task force also recommended replacing the existing food waste composting program through the Compost Crew ($90,000 subsidy) with a third organics bin for both yard and food waste for a total of $141,000. This would be an opt-out program, i.e. all will be provided with an organics bin unless an opt-out request is received. Opting out, however, would not reduce the solid waste fees charged to households.

Flynn questions staffing costs of $195,000

Council Member Erin Flynn asked about the staffing and administrative costs, totaling $195,000 for the equivalent of a full-time employee, included in the cost table, shown below. She had not expected to see staffing costs included and wanted to know if that one full-time employee was only managing curbside solid waste services. (Staffing costs were excluded in initial estimates to City Council, Update: City Manager Proposes 3-Month Study of Fee-Based Trash Service, May 2, 2025.)

Lonnie Marquetti is currently the City’s only solid waste employee and is responsible for all solid waste issues in the City, including residential waste services. Her responsibilities also cover the City’s recycling extravaganza, parklets, street bins, enforcing the City’s solid waste code, and evaluating development plans submitted to the City and their implications for solid waste. Staff have not indicated that moving to a fee-based system would require additional staffing.

Ms. Flynn was concerned about introducing an unnecessary complication in a small jurisdiction like this City where staff would need to determine and track how many hours go into curbside services. As a result, she would prefer to exclude staffing costs from the proposed solid waste fees.

Mr. Shields said that issue is something for Council to decide. Vice-Mayor Debora Schantz-Hiscott and Council Member Marybeth Connelly voiced their support. Mr. Shields said they could re-run the numbers on how that would reduce the fees and lower the real estate tax rate.

Council approves 2-tiered solid waste fees for FY2026 … fees to be determined

On August 11, 2025, staff presented a reduced total solid waste cost of $1 million that excluded the staffing cost, reducing the fees by $63. Also, the real estate tax rate reduction for fees to be revenue neutral dropped to 1.5 cents.

Council members were in favor of a fee structure that widened the fee differential for the 35-gallon bin and the 65-gallon fee from $35 to $100. They hoped this would help residents of smaller properties, over half of whom use 35-gallon bins today. It would also incentivize households to generate less general waste.

City Attorney Sally Gillette explained that any fee structure should be “rationally related” and “fairly debatable”. She would need to further investigate if the incentivized fee structure would pass that test. Because Council needs to hold the second reading and final vote by September 8 for FY2026 implementation, a first reading was needed on August 11. Therefore, Council Member David Snyder made a motion that one of two fee structures would be adopted on September 8. It passed unanimously. The two fee structures are:

• $292 for 35-gallon general waste bin; $327 for 65-gallon bin, or
• $226 for 35-gallon general waste bin; $336 for 65-gallon bin.

Council presses staff on the implementation plan

Although residents can request smaller carts in September, according to the timeline proposed, residents would not see a reduction in fees until FY2027 because the fees will be based on the bins that households use today.

Mr. Snyder challenged staff to work on recording cart changes in time for the FY2026 billing cycle. Mr. Shields agreed that it would be “great” to do that and said he would press staff on this issue, but, on August 11, Mr. Young responded that there is not enough time to do this for FY2026.

Ms. Flynn was concerned that people would be paying for the organics bin for the entire year, but that program would not begin for six months, after the organics bins have been ordered and delivered. She suggested delaying this part of the program to the following year.

The Compost Crew program would be terminated in June 2026. No mention was made about whether current Compost Crew participants will have to pay for the service until the program is terminated.

FY2026 fees based on current bins, changes allowed for FY2027 onward

The window to request a different-size bin will open in September-October 2025 for FY2027. The new bins will arrive by mid-2026 but are reflected in the FY2027 fees. The FY2026 billing will be based on the current bin size.

Furthermore, while downsizing will ensure a lower fee of $35 or $100 in FY2027, depending on the final Council vote, the exact fees will be recalculated depending on the mix of 35- and 65-gallon bins and the solid waste costs. If the fee differential is unchanged, then fees for both bins will increase if more users choose to downsize.

How will solid waste fees be collected?

Solid waste fees will be collected with the real estate taxes in two installments. Residences that receive City solid waste services will see an additional charge on their half-yearly invoices from the City. FY2026 invoices will show:

• Real estate tax at $1.185/$100 of assessed value,
• Stormwater fee, and
• Solid Waste fee, if receiving City solid waste service.

What if you don’t use or share bins?

The current recommendations are:

• Residents who receive stickers in lieu of bins will be charged the same fee as a 35-gallon bin user.
• Residents such as those in Falls Chase who share bins will be charged as though they had individual bins.

What if you don’t compost or use the yard waste pickup?

The fee is for solid waste collection and only varies for the two general waste bin sizes. Fees are the same regardless of whether the household choose to recycle, compost or opt out of getting certain bins. City staff will communicate with residents in September-October about how to opt out of the organics bin and change bin sizes.

Fee relief for seniors now, possibly others later

Mr. Shields confirmed that it would be possible to grant relief to the 29 seniors who currently participate in the real estate tax relief program and receive City trash services.

Some City Council members expressed an interest in providing relief for other groups of people, e.g. based on income, but Mr. Shields said that possibility would need to be considered for a future fiscal year.

City trash service – available to all but only accessible to some

By policy, the City only offers one type of solid waste curbside collection that is geared toward single-family homes and town homes. This, then, limits who can feasibly and practically use this service.

Mr. Shields explained, “One of the things unique about solid waste is that we define who we serve with curbside service and who we don’t serve. … The reason for that is that single-family homes and town houses are all very homogeneous in terms of the service that’s needed, whereas multifamily [units] are very heterogeneous … And so [the City has] chosen not to be in that business. … [As a result,] there are residents in the City that can’t access [this service] because of the housing type that they’re in.”

Mr. Shields said that staff had talked to some of the condos to explore expanding the range of City trash services last winter but decided it was too complicated.

Can current residents opt out of City services?

The City code requires that all residences have solid waste services, whether privately contracted or provided through the City. It is possible for residences that are currently served by the City to opt out of City services and contract with a private trash collection service. Although this would be unlikely for detached single-family homes, Ms. Flynn pointed out that there are communities or homeowners associations (HOAs) that could decide to contract services privately. She asked how that would work.

Mr. Shields responded that it would be feasible to have a yearly “open season” when HOAs could decide to opt out of City services.

Is composting a Citywide policy that includes multi-family units?

The City currently offers food waste composting as an opt-in service. With the move to solid waste fees, the City would require all users to pay for composting service. Mr. Snyder asked if multifamily buildings — whether condominiums or apartments — would also offer composting as it would be a Citywide policy.

Mayor Letty Hardi agreed. “Given that multifamily [units are] half of our housing stock now, I would love for us to think about composting in commercial and multifamily [units]. If we really are serious about our climate goals, that really needs to extend beyond what we do curbside.”

Is carving out solid waste from taxes the beginning of a slippery slope? The C&I tax, for instance.

Ms. Connelly raised a concern from residents that other City spending paid through general taxes could be peeled off the tax bill using the same rationale applied to solid waste.

Mr. Shields responded that solid waste is quite different from other City services, although smaller jurisdictions have tended to pay for it from taxes. He said fee collection has been called for in our policy documents and envisioned in the City’s municipal code.

However, toward the end of the discussion, Council Member Flynn and Vice Mayor Schantz-Hiscott brought up the issue of the $1.4 million Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Tax equivalent that the City draws out of general taxes instead of taxing commercial properties only. Ms. Flynn pointed out that commercial properties, including apartment owners, will get a financial windfall from the solid waste-related tax rate reduction. She would like the City Council to discuss whether the City should continue to fund C&I from general taxes. Other jurisdictions are able to have lower residential tax rates while taxing commercial properties 12.5 cents for the C&I tax. Ms. Schantz-Hiscott suggested that this concept be part of the FY2027 budget discussions.

Should the price of the yellow stickers be raised?

Staff recommended retaining the yellow stickers that residents can purchase for $1 each for extra bags of trash or yard waste. A sticker is required for each bag, and the size of the bag is irrelevant. Council Member Laura Downs asked if that should change to better reflect the cost of disposing of a bag of trash, perhaps charging more for larger contractor bags.

For now, there is no change to the sticker price of $1.

What’s next

A second reading and public hearing are scheduled for the City Council’s September 8, 2025, regular meeting.

References

• Solid Waste Task Force Council Work Session 250804. Presentation slides.
• Draft Solid Waste Code Changes Ordinance SWTF 250724. Staff report.
• City Council Work Session, August 4, 2025. YouTube video.
• City Council Work Session, August 4, 2025. This official video will not display properly on a small screen as it contains the agenda.
• City Council Meeting, August 11, 2025. This official video will not display properly on a small screen as it contains the agenda.
• City Council Meeting, August 11, 2025. YouTube video.
• Solid Waste Task Force Council Work Session 250811. Presentation slides.