Commercial customers to see 2% increase
In approving their Aug. 27 Consent Agenda of routine business matters, the Sarasota County commissioners unanimously agreed to a 3.71% increase in the residential solid waste collection fee and a 2% uptick for commercial solid waste customers, in accord with an adjustment of the county’s contract with Waste Management.
The vote means that single-family residential customers will pay $10.89 a month from Oct. 1 of this year through March 29, 2025, when the Waste Management contract will be ending, a chart showed. For multi-family residential customers, the rate will be $10.60 a month.
The commercial fees will vary on the basis of a variety of factors shown in other county charts provided to the commissioners in their agenda packet for the Aug. 27 meeting.
No commissioner offered any remarks on the increases prior to the vote, which is typical with Consent Agenda items.
Last year, the board members unanimously approved 5% increases for both the residential and commercial rates. The single-family residential fee rose to $10.50 a month, while the multi-family fee climbed to $10.22 a month for the current fiscal year.
A staff memo included in the agenda packet for the Aug. 27 meeting, which took place at the R.L. Anderson Administration Center in Venice, explained that the county’s franchise agreement with Waste Management “provides for the annual adjustment” of the rates, effective as of Oct. 1 of each contract year, “based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and a Fuel Index.”
Section 26.1.1 of the Franchise Renewal Agreement includes the formula for calculating the adjustment, the memo added.
The United States Department of Labor “provides CPI data collected for both the ‘U.S. All Items’ and the ‘South Region All Items’ indexes,” the memo continued, with the “lower of the two … used to determine the change in the CPI.”
For the 12 months ending May 31, the memo said, the percent change in the CPI “of the prior contract year is compared to the same period for the current contract year and is multiplied by 91.16%.”
Further, the memo pointed out, the U.S. Energy Information Administration provides the weekly cost per gallon for on-highway diesel fuel. The percent change in the 12-month average for that price, ending May 31 of the prior contract year, then is compared to the same period for the current contract year and multiplied by 8.8%, the memo continued.
The caps for both the residential and commercial CPI components, the memo noted, is 5%.