City Council Unanimously Passes Increase in Garbage Rates

After a public hearing held at Tuesday night to debate increased garbage rates, the proposed hike was passed unanimously by the City Council of Foster City.

For most customers who have one garbage can, the current rate of $13.73 per month will rise by $4.05 to $17.78 per month under the new rates, which go into effect on Feb. 1, 2011.

City Manager Jim Hardy explained some of the factors that are driving the rates up in recent meeting prior to tonight's public hearing. .

"There are several components. One is that historically Foster City has had some of the lowest garbage rates around and in the current year, our rates are slightly lower than what they should have been, in part because of the city's rate balancing account," he said.

"The second component is that the wonderful services that are being provided have a cost associated with them -- the new trucks, carts, weekly pickup instead of biweekly for recyclables --- will come at a cost, and those costs need to be recovered through the rates," he said.

The new service provider, Recology, took over from Allied Waste on Jan. 1. The transition has been uneasy, about the ease of the new services .

Check back for more coverage of the meeting and local reaction to the decision on Foster City Patch tonight and tomorrow.