Who Wants Their Rates Increased?

The City Council is getting ready to approve another round of increases for residents’ garbage, water and sewer rates.

But before council members do so, the city must first notify residents of the change and allow them to contest any of the proposed changes.

The council will be voting at its how to notify residents of the process to increase rates.

For the garbage rate increase, the city is proposing to increase the rates by 11.7 percent, partly because requested a 2.341 percent change as a result of cost-of-living adjustments and disposal fee increases. Recology also wants to start a new organics program, which would be more expensive because the company would have to hire new drivers, buy new trucks and change its biweekly pickup of green waste to a weekly service.

A 9.37 percent increase for the organics program would be added to the 2.341 percent increase.

“It’s not something you have to do now,” Recology San Bruno General Manager Kirsten Pinochi told the council at its Feb. 28 meeting about the organics program. “I think the residents and commercial community will push for it eventually."

"It’s something where we don’t want to be the last ones on board,” Pinochi added, citing examples of other cities that have already adopted the new program.

After hiring a contractor to come up with an analysis of the city’s water and sewer costs over the next decade, the city is proposing to increase the water and sewer rates by 9.8 percent and 10.3 percent respectively. If approved, those increases would remain the same each year through the 2021 fiscal year.

Mailers are expected to be sent out over the next 45 days. The council will be holding public hearings on May 8 for both proposals.

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