Politics & Government

Mill Valley Refuse Seeks Final Nod on Rate Hike

Company's request for a double-digit rate increase goes to City Council tonight and to Board of Supes Tuesday.

Mill Valley Refuse needs two more approvals this week in its effort to across Southern Marin by at least 13 percent.

The San Rafael-based waste management company takes its request for a nearly 14 percent garbage rate hike to the Mill Valley City Council for final approval tonight. It then goes to the Marin County Board of Supervisors for a 14.7 percent rate increase for parts of unincorporated Mill Valley, including the neighborhoods along Panoramic Hwy. and a small cutout between the and the .

Mill Valley Refuse Service Principal Jim Iavarone blamed a number of factors for the rate hike request, including higher fuel costs, rising workers compensation costs and larger fees from the Redwood Landfill where its trash goes. The company estimated that it will spend $240,000 more in annual diesel fuel costs and $403,000 because of a rate hike from Redwood Landfill, along with a 12 percent rise in the cost of workers compensation insurance.

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But while those costs represented the bulk of the rate hike requests, the company is also dealing with an unfortunate irony. When Mill Valley Refuse sought a double-digit rate increase in 2010, it said customers could make up for the higher rate by diverting some of their garbage to its then-new compost service and thus downgrading their service to smaller, cheaper garbage can.

But Iavarone said the company is losing money because customers are downgrading their garbage service as they recycle and compost more of their waste. He said between March 25 and when the company launched its compost service last August, Mill Valley Refuse has collected 552 fewer tons of trash and 1.377 more tons of compost, including both food and yard waste.

Find out what's happening in Mill Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The company estimated that it has lost $120,000 due to that migration of customers away from revenue-generating trash service.

The rate hike will result in an increase of around $4.50 per Mill Valley household, with the cost of a typical customer’s package of a 32-gallon garbage can, along with recycling and compost service, rising to $36.61, the city said.

The company has already received approval from the sanitary district boards in Alto and Homestead Valley, as well as the board. Tam Valley Community Services District handles its own waste collection. The Almonte Sanitary District board takes up the issue at its meeting next week.

The company’s contracts with each of its respective municipalities calls for it to come back each year for rate increase requests, varying from standard cost of living hikes to the sizable jumps being sought this year.

“It’s an annual event, and certainly we hope to have an annual event without double digit increases,” Iavarone said. “But that’s where we’re at this time unfortunately.”


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