Notice of Public Hearing
Proposed Increase for Solid Waste/Recycling/Compost
Collection for Rate Year 2024
CITY OF SAN MATEO CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
330 West 20th Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94403
MARCH 18, 2024, 7:00 P.M.
The City of San Mateo is currently considering an increase to the charges set by the City and collected by Recology for solid waste/recycling/compost collection and disposal. You are receiving this notice because City records indicate that you are a Recology customer in the city.
On March 18, 2024 at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard, the San Mateo City Council will hold a Public Hearing to accept public input and testimony on a proposed increase on the maximum allowable charge for solid waste/recycling/compost collection and disposal, to be effective April 1, 2024. Any interested person may present verbal or written input to the City Council. Although the City Council will consider all input, State law provides that only the written protests of property owners may be counted to determine whether a majority protest (50% of all parcels +1) to the proposed maximum exists. If, at the conclusion of the public hearing, a majority protest of property owners does not exist, the City Council will consider adoption of the proposed increase in the maximum allowable charges.
How Solid Waste Rates are Determined
The total cost of the solid waste program includes those for collection services provided by Recology San Mateo County (Recology), processing and disposal services provided by the South Bayside Waste Management Authority (SBWMA), and City fees that support the City’s sustainability goals and efforts to meet all regulatory compliance mandates. These include the solid waste program, street sweeping, litter and illegal dumping abatement, trash capture device management, and franchise fees. Customer rates are adjusted as required to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the provided services. These services are available to or provided as a benefit to all City of San Mateo residents and commercial businesses. Recommended rates are reviewed by the South Bayside Waste Management Authority Board of Directors based on a financial evaluation of operating costs and projected revenues. Single family residential bills are based on the size of your solid waste cart and cover the cost of collection, processing, and disposal of solid waste, recycling, and organic material. Commercial and multi-family bills are based on the size of your solid waste container and frequency of collection (e.g., 1 time per week, 2 times per week) and covers the cost of collecting solid waste and recycling. In addition, commercial and multi-family bills include a charge for organic material collections based on the size and frequency of collection of the organic material container.
Proposed Rate Increases
The proposed change is directly related to the significant increases to Recology collection costs and disposal and processing costs due to: a new contracted operator at the Shoreway Environmental Center which have caused costs to exceed revenues; increases due to high inflationary costs for labor, fuel, and other operating expenses, and; increases in the number of drivers, additional routes, and route costs due to increases in organics collection service mandated by Senate Bill 1383 (SB 1383), which requires all customers to have separate organic material
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collection services. In addition, the proposed rate changes reflect the need for all rates to cover the cost of the actual services provided.
Impact of Proposed Increase on Solid Waste Bills
The following chart illustrates the monthly rates, including all City fees, for residential services and the most common service level rates for commercial customers. Residential cart rate increases for all carts will increase $6.00. Rates charged to commercial garbage customers with a 20-gallon cart will increase $2.85. All other Commercial/Multi-family garbage rates for larger containers or metal bin service rates will remain flat.
Commercial/Multi-family Organics Collection rates will increase so that the cost of each organic cart or bin is equal to the commercial garbage rate and meets the actual cost to provide the service. The full rate schedule, including all commercial services, is available for review at www.cityofsanmateo.org/SolidWasteRates or at the City Clerk’s Office at 330 West 20th Avenue, San Mateo.
Recology provides additional services upon request that are not included in the City’s solid waste collection rate.
Additional services include backyard or distance service, additional carts, and extra on-call pickups of bulk items.
The fees for optional services will appear on the customer’s Recology San Mateo County bill as separate line items in addition to the standard cost of collection. A complete list of all the additional services and their 2024 cost is available at www.cityofsanmateo.org/SolidWasteRates or at the City Clerk’s Office located at 330 W. 20th Avenue, San Mateo. For questions, please call the City of San Mateo, Public Works Department at 650-522- 7346.
Residential and Commercial/Multi-family Garbage Collection (Single family homes are billed quarterly, assuming service one time per week, commercial customers billed monthly) Size of
Collection
Cart/Bin
2023 Current
Monthly Rate
Proposed 2024
Monthly Rate
Monthly
Difference
Residential Cart Rates
20 Gallon Cart $23.59 $29.59 $6.00
32 Gallon Cart $32.93 $38.93 $6.00
64 Gallon Cart $58.93 $64.93 $6.00
96 Gallon Cart $89.08 $95.08 $6.00
Commercial Cart Rates
20 Gallon Cart $25.49 $28.34 $2.85
32 Gallon Cart $37.18 $37.18 $0.00
64 Gallon Cart $64.26 $64.26 $0.00
96 Gallon Cart $94.47 $94.47 $0.00
Commercial Rates
1 Yard $170.18 $170.18 $0.00
2 Yard $340.45 $340.45 $0.00
3 Yard $510.65 $510.65 $0.00
4 Yard $680.90 $680.90 $0.00
6 Yard $1,021.31 $1,021.31 $0.00
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Commercial/Multi-family Organics Collection (Commercial customers billed monthly) Size of
Collection
Cart/Bin
2023 Current
Monthly Rate
Proposed 2024
Monthly Rate
Monthly
Difference
Commercial Organics Cart Rates
20 Gallon Cart $19.12 $28.34 $9.22
32 Gallon Cart $27.89 $37.18 $9.29
64 Gallon Cart $48.20 $64.26 $16.06
96 Gallon Cart $70.85 $94.47 $23.62
Commercial Organics Bin Rates
1 Yard $127.63 $170.18 $42.54
2 Yard $255.33 $340.45 $85.11
3 Yard $382.99 $510.65 $127.66
4 Yard $510.68 $680.90 $170.23
6 Yard $765.98 $1,021.31 $255.33
How to Protest the Rate Increase
A property owner or Recology customer may submit a written protest to the proposed increase in maximum rates to be charged by the City’s franchisee by U.S. mail, to be received prior to the meeting date, or hand delivered to the City Clerk, at any time before the end of the public hearing. The City Clerk’s address is: 330 West 20th Avenue, San Mateo, CA 94403. Only one protest per parcel will be counted. Written protest must include the owner or customer’s name, service address, assessor’s parcel number (the nine-digit number that appears on your property tax statement) and the owner’s or customer’s signature for the property served. While protests may not be submitted by electronic means such as email or texts, as they are not an official rate protest mechanism under Proposition 218, the City values all residential input and will read all correspondence regarding rates.