Largo, FL city commissioners voted 4-3 on August 7 to approve a 20 percent residential and commercial hike. The increase would take effect Oct. 1 and would cost each resident about $3.50 more each month and generate about $2 million annually.
Assistant Finance Director Rebecca Spuhler said there were several reasons for the increase, including slow revenue growth, increased costs for fuel and salaries, the establishment of a $2 million debris removal reserve, and a change in Chinese policy regarding recyclables.
Since 2014, the Progressive Waste Solutions plant in St. Petersburg has paid the city about $300,000 each year for its recyclables, but that contract will end in February, meaning the city could have to pay its own recycling disposal fees for the first time. Spuhler said that cost could be as much as $500,000 annually, so the city is seeking ways to keep the recycling program viable.
Until worldwide markets settle, Commissioner Curtis Holmes, who joined commissioners John Carroll and Samantha Fenger in voting against the ordinance, said the city should consider maintaining the recycling program but pay less by taking the materials to the county’s waste-to-energy facility where it would get burned.
Recycling wasn’t the only reason the increase was voted on. According to Spuhler, debris removal associated with Hurricane Irma cost the city about $1 million, so the city has set up a debris removal reserve in case another storm arrives. “And that was for a very, very weak storm comparatively,” Robinson said. “It was a tropical storm that was in and out in a couple of hours and we spent months cleaning up debris.”
Read the full story at http://www.tbnweekly.com/largo_leader/largo-moves-ahead-with-percent-increase-to-solid-waste-fee/article_f7fe43f6-9b2b-11e8-a32f-5b76bdd8f12c.html.