City moves residential garbage contract to special fund; drop-off center running a modest subsidy

Public Works staff told the finance committee on Oct. 16 that residential curbside pickup—the contract with Johns—has been moved out of the general fund and into a new special revenue (garbage and recycling) fund and that fee revenues are intended to fully cover the collection contract.

Director Alex Damien said the solid-waste budget now shows disposal, drop-off center wages and compost-grinding wages while Johns’ contracted service runs through the special fund. He said the drop-off center remains busy: “As of August, we've already disposed of... about 3,200 tons basically of garbage there.” Damien said the drop-off center is not revenue neutral and the city is currently subsidizing the operation: “we are, as of to date, running a deficit of about $46,000… We planned on it being about $50,000 to $60,000 of a subsidy out there.”

Staff said the gate and disposal lines reflect continuing heavy public usage on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and that the city has already implemented fee increases last year to help control expenses. The budget for credit-card processing at the drop-off center was discussed; staff said they plan to add a card-acceptance option and are evaluating whether to connect via fiber or cellular service for payments.

Finance staff explained how the levy and fee interact: state rules require removing the historical levy portion for garbage from the general levy, which produced a roughly $2 million technical reduction in general-fund levy capacity; the special revenue fund will show the contracted-service cost with user charges expected to net to zero. Committee members asked for fund-page references and additional detail on the special-revenue balance.