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Politics & Government

Modest Garbage Rate Hike Likely This Summer

Rate increase would amount to less than $1 per month for most South San Francisco residents.

The South San Francisco city council is expected to approve a 3.6 percent garbage rate increase on Wednesday.

The rate increase, which would take effect July 1, would amount to less than $1 per month for most residents, according to a city staff report.

Residents who use a 32-gallon trash can would see their monthly rates rise by 89 cents, the report said, while customers with a 20-gallon can would pay 69 cents more per month.

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Under the city’s franchise agreement with , the waste hauler can increase rates every year by 80 percent of the difference in the Bay Area Consumer Price Index.

This year’s increase combines two rate hikes because the city council requested postponing last year’s rate increase due to the recession, said Finance Director Jim Steele.

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“The council requested that Scavenger not raise the resident rate even though the contract terms allowed them to raise it,” Steele said.

The rates for commercial and other hauling services would rise 1.65 percent.

The city would pay higher sludge hauling fees for its sewer treatment plant, amounting to less than $11,000 a year, the staff report said.

Doug Button, president of South San Francisco Scavenger, said the rate increase is necessary to offset the rising cost of business. 

Button said the company’s wages and benefits rose 8.7 percent since last year and fuel costs are up 15 percent this year alone.

“We are just as sensitive to the economy as everyone else is,” he said.

If confirmed by the council, residents will be notified by mail about the rate increase, Button said.

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