Fountain Valley trash collection rates going up 23 to 27 cents a month
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Fountain Valley residents will pay 23 to 27 cents more per month for garbage collection, according to a decision by the City Council on Tuesday.
But the city will not be auditing its longtime contracted trash hauler, Rainbow Environmental Services, as requested by Councilman Mark McCurdy, who wants an an independent analysis to examine the rate structure.
He dissented as the council voted 4 to 1 to allow Rainbow to raise its rates.
McCurdy acknowledged that Rainbow has provided “exceptional quality and service” but argued that it has been the city’s exclusive trash hauler for 60 years, and in that time, the city has never gone out to bid for a competitor.
The city agreed last year to lock in Rainbow’s contract for 20 more years.
The contract allows the company to seek annual adjustments. The last hike was in 2014.
“If we can’t shop our contract and go out to bid, as keepers of the public purse, we should at least perform an independent audit to determine if any rate increase is even necessary,” McCurdy said.
It “seems only fair, only reasonable and the proper course of action as keepers of the public purse,” he added.
The rise represents a 1.4% increase. Most households will see their monthly trash bills increase from $18.84 to $19.11. The senior rate will climb from $16.65 to $16.88.
Seventeen people wrote letters of protest, with arguments ranging from poor customer service to the cost placing an unfair burden on small households that produce less trash than larger families but pay the same rate. One resident, Kim Constantine, spoke at the meeting. She also is seeking an audit.
Councilwoman Cheryl Brothers said she didn’t see the need for an audit, and suggested that Fountain Valley residents are getting a more than fair deal. According to a report prepared by city staff, Fountain Valley’s $18.84 rate was about average for Orange County, with Irvine paying the least at $11.79 per month and Placentia paying the most at $23.51 per month.
“I think all an independent audit would do is cost us some money and demonstrate that Rainbow has every right, according to their agreement with us and their cost of doing business, to raise their rates each and every year, and at a much higher rate than we’re seeing today,” she said. “So I don’t know why we would insist on an audit that would demonstrate that they should actually be charging us more.”
McCurdy pushed back. “How do we know that?” he said.
This brought Mayor John Collins into the exchange. He asked, “What’s the result of the independent audit?”
“We won’t know ‘til we look,” McCurdy replied.
McCurdy’s motion died for lack of a second.
In defense of Rainbow, Collins said he hears complaints about trash service in nearby cities but few in Fountain Valley. Councilman Steve Nagel said the city has been treated well by its longstanding partner.
“It always means something when rates are increased,” Nagel said. “But when you look at the big picture of things, we have been treated, I believe, very fairly.”
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