Item 143/2026
Final
City of Garden Grove
INTER-DEPARTMENT MEMORANDUM
To:
Lisa L. Kim From: Samuel Kim
Dept:
City Manager Dept: Public Works
Date: 4/14/2026
Subject: Approval of an Agreement with the County of Orange for Municipal Solid Waste Disposal and a revision to the 2022 Amended and Restated Agreement with Republic Services. (Joint Action Item with the Sanitary District)
OBJECTIVE
To s eek Garden Grove Sanitary District Board of Directors approval to enter into an agreement with the County of Orange (County) for municipal solid waste disposal rates and services.
Additionally, the Sanitary District Board and City Council are being asked to approve a revision to Exhibit D of the 2022 Amended and Restated Agreement with Republic Services (RS Agreement).
BACKGROUND
The County, through the OC Waste & Recycling (OCWR) department, operates the County - owned landfill system, including three (3) active landfills and approximately 20 inactive sites.
Since 1997, the 34 cities, sanitary districts and unincorporated areas in the county have participated in a Waste Disposal Agreement (WDA), which provided guaranteed landfill capacity and more favorabl e disposal rates for County participants. The WDA has been amended several times in 2004, 2009, 2015, and most recently with a one-year extension in 2025.
As the WDA neared expiration, OCWR developed the successor Waste Infrastructure System Enterprise (WISE) Agreement (Attachment 1). The Orange County City Managers Association (OCCMA), who represented the cities, sanitary districts, and special districts that rely on the landfill system, coordinated review and negotiations beginning in late 2024. In 2025, OCCMA secured the above noted one -year extension of the WDA and a rate adjustment per the existing agreement through June 30, 2026, allowing additional time for negotiations of the new WISE Agreement.
Furthermore, since the Sanitary District Board and Garden Grove City Council approved the RS Agreement with Republic Services on June 28, 2022, the collection and disposal service Item 143/2026
offerings listed on Exhibit D of RS Agreement have not been updated to reflect additional base services offered by Republic Services, and these matters are being reviewed in tandem.
The Garden Grove Sanitary District, not the City of Garden Grove, is the signer of the WDA and WISE Agreement.
DISCUSSION
The Discussion for this item is organized into five sections: WISE Agreement County Justification for raising rates , Rate and Impact, WISE Agreement Components, Term, and Exhibit D of the RS Agreement.
WISE AGREEMENT
County Justification for Raising Rates
The County communicated to OCCMA the reasons associated with need to adjust the disposal rates. These reasons include costs associated with compliance for legislative mandates, labor, equipment, and other operational expenses, and the needed expansion of capacity at its Frank R. Bowerman Landfill near Irvine and Pr ima Deshecha Landfill near San Juan Capistrano, as OCWR prepares for the pending closure of the Olinda Alpha Landfill near Brea.
In the report presented to the County Board of Supervisors on January 27, 2026, County staff stated “…general operating and in frastructure costs over the past 16 years significantly increased and resulted in the need to increase our rates for both contract and non -contract customers.” OCWR operates at a full cost recovery model and does not rely on the County General Fund to cover expenses.
The County Board of Supervisors approved adoption of the WISE Agreement on a three to one (3 to 1) vote with Supervisor Nguyen, who represents most of Garden Grove, voting no.
Rate and Impact
The WDA limits annual rate increases to Consumer P rice Index (CPI) All Urban Consumers, US city average, and does not account for rising operational, regulatory, and environmental compliance costs. OCWR’s original WISE proposal in 2024 would have increased disposal rates from $42.65 per ton in FY 24-25 rate to $82 in FY 25-26, rising to nearly $107 by the end of the initial 10 year term of the agreement.
Through negotiations, OCCMA reached an agreement through a phased rate implementation structure for the first three years of the WISE Agreement. These increases are in addition to any annual hauler -related service component adjustments associated with the adjustment methodology allowed for in the RS Agreement. Service component adjustments are capped at 5% per year by the RS Agreement. The landfill disposal component is considered a pass - through cost and affects every city, sanitary district, and hauler in Orange County.
The table below shows the three-year projected impact on disposal rates for the residential rate and the most common commercial service in Garden Grove, which is a three (3) cubic yard (CY) bin serviced three (3) times per week:
Item 143/2026
Fiscal Year Contract Disposal
Rate
Impact to Residential
Disposal Rate
(Monthly)
Impact to
Commercial
Disposal 3 CY 3x WK
Rate (Monthly)
Current 2025-26 $43.76/ton
2026–27 $67/ton $2.79 $49.81
2027–28 $74/ton $0.84* $15*
2028–29 $81/ton $0.84* $15*
2029–30 $81/ton + Blended
CPI
UNKNOWN UNKNOWN
*Estimate based on available data.
Beginning in Fiscal Year (FY) 2 029–30, the per ton disposal rate will be adjusted annually based on a blended Consumer Price Index (CPI), consisting of the national Water, Sewer, and Solid Waste Index an d the Los Angeles –Long Beach–Anaheim area. Based on the average annual 12-month CPI change from 2021 through 2025, this blended index approach averaged approximately 4.3%.
Attachment 2 is the full FY 2026-27 Exhibit D Rate Sheet, showing the increased disposal and service components for all offerings under the District’s agreement with Republic.
WISE Agreement Components
While the primary focus of the negotiations was on the per ton disposal rate, OCCMA successfully included several components to stabiliz e rates and protect County rate payers from significant rate adjustments in the future.
These components include continued OCCMA participation to improve transparency and oversight of OCWR’s financial status and implementation of the WISE Agreement, along with an annual “true -up” process that begins in 2030. This process involves a review of OCWR operating costs, revenue, and tonnage, and may result in a freeze of future annual per ton rate adjustments. Fifty percent (50%) of cities may vote to initiate a meet and confer process with the County for review by an independent third -party consultant during the “true -up” process.
The WISE Agreement also continues the revenue sharing component for waste brought into the system from out of county users established under the original WDA, however, if imported waste adversely affects the County’s ability to receive and dispose of waste from County jurisdictions that have entered into WISE Agreements, the County must prioritize the waste from those jurisdictions with executed WISE Agreements.
Republic Services, along with the Sanitary District, is also required to sign the revised Franchise Hauler Acknowledgement form, Appendix 4, as the Sanitary Distri cts’ exclusive waste, recycling, and organic materials hauler.
Item 143/2026
Terms
The agreement is for 10 years, through June 30, 2036, with one optional 10-year extension.
Jurisdictions must adopt the WISE Agreement by April 30, 2026, to avoid increased per ton disposal rates of 10% or more.
REPUBLIC SERVICES AGREEMENT EXHIBIT D AMENDMENT
Exhibit D of the 2022 Amended and Restated Agreement with Republic Services While the costs associated with disposal (outlined on Exhibit D of the RS Agreement) are adjusted annually in alignment with the RS Agreement, the service offerings have not been amended. As such, Republic Services is now able to offer split -bin service for commercial customers not originally included in Exhibit D. A split-bin is a three (3) CY dumpster that has a permanent divider that separates regular trash from recyclables. Each side has a lock on the lid that prevents the other side from being accidentally emptied during service.
Staff is also recommending the removal of a pre -existing service of fering from our prior agreements with Republic, a temporary 3 CY bin rate for construction demolition waste, which is a discontinued service as part of Republic’s CalGreen compliant construction demolition program. The changes are included on the attached update to Exhibit D (Attachment 2).
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no impact to the Sanitary District’s Solid Waste funding or the City’s General Fund.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Garden Grove Sanitary District Board of Directors:
Approve the 10-year WISE Agreement with the County of Orange for municipal solid waste disposal rates and services through June 30, 2036; and
Authorize the General Manager, or designee, to execute the WISE Agreement and the Franchise Hauler Agreement on behalf of th e Sanitary District , and make minor modifications as necessary.
It is recommended that the Garden Grove Sanitary District Board of Directors and the Garden Grove City Council:
Authorize the General Manager/City Manager to update Exhibit D of the 2022 Amended and Restated Agreement with Republic Services.
By: Mark Ladney, Senior Program Specialist
ATTACHMENT(S)
1. WISE Agreement
2. Exhibit D and FY 26-27 Disposal Rates