DAVIDSON—The cost of recycling is going up for Davidson ratepayers this year.
In this month’s newsletter that accompanies water bills the Town of Davidson notified residents of increases in recycling fees.
Commercial recycling customers who use the metal Loraas bins are hardest hit by the increase and will see their recycling fees more than triple. For example, the fee charged for a 4 cubic yard bin that is emptied monthly will go from $17.75 to $59.85 per quarter as the town tries to cover the costs of providing the service.
In November Davidson town council approved a resolution to increase commercial recycling rates.
Mayor Clayton Schneider said when the program started council decided to subsidize commercial users for the first year because the commercial tax rate is 30 per cent more than the residential rate.
“Then, for whatever reason, the commercial rate was never adjusted. Now that our contract with Loraas has been renewed, council made the decision to adjust the commercial rates to where it should have been all along.”
This had cost the town about $12,000 per year.
In its letter to ratepayers, the town states, “We realize that this will be a substantial increase, but the Town of Davidson can no longer afford this subsidy. In fact, the bin fees are closer to what the actual costs should have been since the program began.”
The new rates, outlined in the newsletter, are the first increases since the town contracted with Loraas Disposal Services for recycling three years ago.
Rates for the blue rollout carts, used by residences and some commercial enterprises, will have a more modest increase from $16.35 per quarter to $18.65.
Last fall, Loraas notified the town in the fall that it was changing its service rates “due to an adjustment for Consumer Price Index”. Effective Jan. 1 the service rates for recycling carts would be $5.55 per month and the rates charged for the steel bins would go to $4.45 per cubic yard.
To read more, please see the Jan. 19 print edition of The Davidson Leader.