Detroit council OKs fee hike, $210M in contracts to boost frequency of garbage pickups

Detroit — The City Council on Tuesday approved $210 million for new contracts as well as a fee increase to increase the frequency of trash and bulk pick-up services through 2029.

The service increases proposed by Mayor Mike Duggan for recycling, yard waste and bulk, which currently are picked up once every two weeks, will begin every week starting this summer. The new contracts also pick up illegal dumping in front of vacant lots every week and allow for construction materials to be set at the curb for bulk pickup.

The council approved two contracts to Waste Management of Michigan based in Plymouth for nearly $123 million and another to Priority Waste LLC based in Clinton Township for $87.7 million. The contracts run through May 2029 and are paid out of the Public Works Department.

Under the new arrangement, residents would see a $10 increase per year for the next three years to the existing $240 annual solid waste fee to help pay for the increased services.

The council voted 7-2 to approve the Priority Waste contract with council members Angela Whitfield-Calloway and Coleman A. Young II opposing it. The council voted 6-3 on the Waste Management contract with Whitfield-Calloway, James Tate and Scott Benson rejecting it.

District 2 Council member Whitfield-Calloway voted against both contracts, arguing she supports bringing the trash services back “in-house.”

Tate said he could not support Waste Management after his own bulk waste wasn’t picked up last week.

Following the vote on the contracts to increase services, the council debated the fee increase and whether the Public Works Department is operating within its budget. Young and Whitfield-Calloway also rejected the proposed fee increase.

At-Large Councilman Young said he couldn’t support the fee increase “when the city already has the highest costs for public services. … The department needs to show financial discipline.”

Ron Brundidge, director of Detroit’s Public Works Department, responded, “The fees are not going to be sufficient and will need support from the general funds to offset the cost of increased disposal activities.”

District 6 Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero previously said the hefty contracts cannot be supported by the city’s solid waste funding alone and advised the city to survey residents on how much they’d be willing to pay for the increased service. On Tuesday, she supported having the companies issue a quarterly report to measure compliance and success.

“Contracts like these are why the city has gone through bankruptcy. I want to make sure we’re fiscally responsible given the traumas we’ve been through,” Santiago-Romero said.

The Detroit waste fee hasn’t risen in 15 years, but the city is proposing covering 70% of the contract increase through the budget and 30% by adding the $10 fee increase to the summer bills due at the beginning of August. The city’s general services budget is expected to cover the remaining $10 fee increases over the following two years.

The city’s current contracts expire in June, and this would be the last time the city could change service until 2029. 

The need to change

Duggan previously introduced the proposal in December and said an increase in home repairs is leading to more dumping of material because people can’t dispose of it. He proposed having a recycling service the same day as trash service and trash pickup in vacant lots, which hasn’t been done before.

“I’d like to change it because this isn’t the standard of service in the suburbs,” Duggan said in December. “In the suburbs, they’re not having bulk and yard waste picked up every other week. They do this every week. We have progressed to the point as a city that we can demand a higher level of service.”

Since bankruptcy, the city has used two contractors, and “it’s a good idea to continue using two contractors in case one of them starts performing badly,” he said.

The mayor said the city doesn’t often get complaints about Waste Management, but recently more complaints have been coming in about GFL Environmental on the east and southwest sides of the city.

Councilman Fred Durhal III said he supported the the services and fee increases because the current contracts don’t require Waste Management to pick up for non-residential households. The new contracts include picking up debris on side streets and vacant lots.

“I found with my conversation with community leaders that they are willing to pay the increase because they are spending more on trash bags to clean up the blight in their neighborhoods and side streets,” Durhal said.

City budget, resident fees

Residents pay $240 annually for a waste disposal fee in addition to property taxes. The city pays $28 million annually for garbage pickup, and the cost would rise to about $40 million next year, Duggan said. Because of inflation and service increases, the cost would initially add $12 million and $15 million each year after that, he said.

The city is spending almost $6 million a year sending Detroit Public Work trucks into the neighborhoods to pick up trash on the side streets, Duggan said.

Brundidge, director of Detroit’s Public Works Department, said 58,000 residents have signed up for solid waste text message alerts. The city sent those residents a survey of two questions: “Is important for services to be weekly, and if they would be supportive of an increase to the existing $240 fee?”

In a second survey conducted in the last week, at the council’s request, 9,763 people responded. Of those who supported weekly collection, 72% of those residents said they’d back a $10 a year fee increase, he told the Council Tuesday.

“We received input from all 31 ZIP codes of the city,” Brundidge said.

All senior citizens, with no income limit, qualify for a half-off discount on their solid waste fee. If they are 65 years old and own their home, they can apply for the solid waste discount with the city’s treasury. Seniors may also qualify for the HOPE property tax exemption program that includes the solid waste fee discount.

The city’s Executive Policy Manager Irvin Corley Jr. advised the City Council that the fee increase would help the city budget, which is expecting further pressure of cost increases since 25 labor contracts are set to expire in three years and wages and benefits make up 65% of the operating budget.

“That’s going to be a weighty pressure on the general fund so for citizens to be willing to pay increased garbage fees for weekly hauling services will be wonderful,” he said last week.

District 3 Councilman Scott Benson questioned the age of the trucks and what the plan is if garbage trucks leak.

Priority Waste CEO and Founder Todd Stamper said the cycle of bringing in new trucks is five to six years, and any residents who report garbage leaks on their street will have Priority Waste street cleaners sent out.

srahal@detroitnews.com

X: @SarahRahal_