Resource Recovery proposes slight uptick in trash fees

Austin residents may see a small increase in their trash bill next fiscal year if City Council approves the Austin Resource Recovery budget proposal.

The Clean Community Fee for residents would increase by 45 cents from $5 to $5.45 a month, with no change for commercial customers. The base customer fee for residential users would increase by $1.45 a month, and usage of a large trash cart would increase by 60 cents a month to $11.50, according to an ARR presentation in July. 

Victoria Rieger, a finance manager for ARR, said during a Zero Waste Advisory Commission meeting last month that the fee increases are necessary to keep operations steady.

“The $2.50 increase … is related to overall departmental growth and cost drivers required to continue services,” Rieger said, referring to the monthly increase of the three fees.

Even as the cost of using an extra-large cart increases, Rieger said there’s been an increase – from 12 percent in 2021 to 14 percent this year – in the percentage of residential customers using the extra-large 96-gallon carts. The department is proposing a 2 cent per gallon increase for the extra-large carts, and a 1 cent per gallon increase for small, medium and large carts, which Commissioner Ian Steyaert said should help boost zero-waste efforts in the city.

“We are seeing growth in the bigger carts, which … anecdotally shows that perhaps there’s less price sensitivity when it comes to the bigger carts,” Steyaert said. “So it would be appropriate to just barely nudge those cart fees up a little bit and see if people react by nudging them towards beneficial behavior.”

Rieger said the rate increases will also help ARR replenish its operating reserve in order to meet the department’s policy of having 30 days’ worth of operating funds. Commissioners initially considered a recommendation that would call on City Council to increase the fund balance to cover three months of operating funds, but ARR Director Richard McHale said it’s “not a current request of the department to extend the reserve to three months.”

The zero-waste commission unanimously voted to pass a recommendation supporting ARR’s budget proposal by a 6-0 vote. Three commissioners were absent, and the commission currently has two vacancies.

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