Portage’s trash collection costs are based on volume, and so will residents’ fees next year.
The City Council is expected to vote next month on a new fee structure that would go into effect Jan. 1.
“Our trash fee has never been sufficient in meeting our department operational needs,” Streets and Sanitation Superintendent Randy Reeder said.
Under the proposed ordinance, households would be encouraged to go from the current two cans to a single one per week. Doing so would lower their monthly bill to $18, increasing $1 a year through 2032.
Households who keep their current two cans would be charged $30 per month in 2026, $33 in 2027, $36 in 2028, with a $4 jump a year thereafter.
People who generate even more trash would pay more, starting at $54 next year for three cans and $72 for four cans.
“We have one residential stop that has seven of our cans here, and they fill them up every week,” Reeder said.
Residents generate a lot of trash, he said. Crews make 13,000 residential service stops a week. That’s 676,000 stops a year, picking up 17,000 tons annually.
“The sanitation department is the only city department that visits every home 52 times a year,” he said.
One 96-gallon trash can has greater volume over a year than one 20-yard dumpster, Reeder said, and the average dumpster costs about $475 in the Portage area. “There’s a value that we’re giving to the city residents providing this toter,” he said.
Having two totes is the equivalent of 2.5 dumpsters.
Curious how much you throw away each year? Reeder said it comes to 2,600 pounds per resident.
Issuing two trash cans per household dates back to when Portage’s recycling program was a flop. Too many people were putting waste in with the recyclables, so all the city’s recyclables were rejected upstream. The city’s recycling privileges were suspended in June 2021. Finally, the city gave up on its curbside recycling efforts as a result.
Currently, the city is subsidizing landfill disposal fees with its share of the county income tax. But that $1 million a year is disappearing as a new law, Senate Enrolled Act 1, puts local government on a stricter fiscal diet. Not only is property tax revenue going to shrink, starting next year, but the city is also losing its share of the county income tax.
“In the past four years, we went into the $1 million range that we’re currently spending out of (local income tax)” money, Reeder said.
“Remember our LIT is going away in a couple of years, and it will no longer be there to cover landfill costs,” he said. That’s why the new fee structure is proposed. “This will eliminate one more fiscal challenge for the city and for the City Council when SEA 1 takes effect.”
“If they have two totes and they’re willing to give one tote back to the city, they’re looking at a discount,” Reeder said. Senior citizens and disabled residents get a price break, and so do people who pay for all 12 months at the start of the year.
“A number of our senior citizens are already using one can,” Mayor Austin Bonta said. “I’m already on one can and have been for a while.”
Bonta expects 55% to 60% of residents to continue using two cans. “If enough people switch to one can, then we have enough money to cover that loss.”
The city has income tax money earmarked for paving that could be used next year if the trash fees aren’t enough to meet expenses, but that would mean paving fewer streets.
It would also mean revisiting the fee schedule likely to be adopted next month to make sure enough money is being raised through fees to pay for the service in subsequent years.
Privatizing the sanitation department, as some cities have done, would mean residents pay a higher rate, usually $24 to $26 more, Bonta said.
“In a perfect world, maybe this would be more like the Jetsons episode where George asks his wife Jane, How do we have a garbage bill for maybe $1 million? ‘” Bonta said. Jane replies they are charged by the pound to dispose of junk mail.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
