Solid waste rates going up Dec. 1
The Truth or Consequences City Commission passed an ordinance that amends city code and policy on solid waste collection at the Oct. 9 meeting.
Afterwards, the city commission passed a rate hike via resolution, not via ordinance, which avoids having to hold a public hearing on the rate hike. .
What’s weird is the rate schedule included in the resolution conflicts with its language. The language says rate hikes will take effect Dec. 1. The rate schedule gives rates for 2025 and subsequent increases that will happen each July through 2028. It’s unclear if solid waste rates will go up July 2025.
I called the city’s solid waste collection center for clarification, left a message and no one called me back.
It’s is also quite irritating that the city’s website does not give the current per ton and per cubic yard rates for those bring green waste and residential waste and construction and demolition waste to the collection center. It only gives rates for polycart and dumpster collection.
Please see prior articles on the rate study done by a private company somebody at the city hired, on which, supposedly, the rate increases are based:
https://sierracountycitizen.org/solid-waste-rate-study-proves-polycart-customers-overpaid/
https://sierracountycitizen.org/trash-rates-are-going-up-will-they-be-fair/ aug 2024
I spoke during public comment asking the city commission (again) to explain what the recycling rates are based on, giving evidence and data before passing the rate increases. I also asked that they do a comparison study of solid waste rates, as I have in the past. In a 2021 article, my research showed T or C’s rates were the highest for residential customers: : https://sierracountysun.org/government/t-or-c/solid-waste-rate-comparison-among-cities-similar-in-size-and-isolation-to-t-or-c/
Assistant City Manager Traci Alvarez said it was difficult to compare T or C’s solid waste rates because one would have to find a city that doesn’t have a landfill—one that also has to truck their trash miles away.
But my 2021 comparison includes Raton, which is not only similar in population but has trucked its trash 65 miles to a landfill near Wagon Mound since 2017. T or C has trucked its trash 75 miles to the South Central Solid Waste Authority landfill since 2013. Raton has a population 5,974 and T or has a population of 5,977 according to 2022 U.S. Census estimates.
I also sent an email on Jan. 12, 2022 to City Manager Bruce Swingle, Mayor Amanda Forrister, Mayor Pro Tem Rolf Hechler and City Commissioners Destiny Mitchell, Shelly Harrelson and Merry Jo Fahl, in gray below, which compares Raton’s and T or C’s solid waste department revenues and expenses.
Please find below comparison figures of Raton’s and T or C’s solid waste costs from yearly audits available on the State Auditor’s website. Raton is about the same size as T or C. The figures come from the annual audit documents that can be found on the State Auditor’s website. Raton, in 2017, similar to T or C in 2013, no longer had its own landfill and has to ship its trash out 65 miles away. Please note the stupendous amount of cash being collected by T or C’s solid waste department in 2020, over $2.8 million, as well as the amount of cash paid out to vendors and employees, over $2.4 million. The amount T or C solid waste paid to vendors and employees has tripled since 2017.
2017 2018 2019 2020
T or C Solid Waste
charges for service 1,241,633 1,640,004 1,614,918 1,954,213
operating expenses 1,298,669 1,274,552 1,485,891 1,697,360
net (57,036) 365,452 129,027 256,853
operating activities, cash flows
cash from cust.& others 1,151,395 1,808,184 2,742,031 2,844,064
cash pd to empl. &vend. 703,656 1,531,144 2,323,304 2,486,850
net cash fr. op. act 447,739 277,040 418,727 357,214
Raton
charges for service 1,250,997 1,571,345 1,463,314
operating expenses 1,252,068 1,453,485 1,568,123
net (1,071) 117,860 (104,809)
operating activities, cash flows
cash from cust. & others 1,362,826 1,465,319 1,489,393
cash pd to empl & vend. 1,156,892 1,349,411 1,380,556
net cash fr op actv 205,934 115,908 108,837
I didn’t have the 2020 figures for Raton. I just looked up some of the 2023 figures for both cities. Raton collected $1,534,333 cash from customers and paid $1,280,305, leaving it with a cash balance of $254,028.
T or C collected $2,628,784 cash from customers and paid vendors and employees $2,207,105 cash, leaving it with a cash balance of $421,679.
But here is the thing. The cash T or C took in was 1,151,395 in 2017 and seven years later it was 2,628,784. That’s a 56 percent or $1,477,389 cash revenue increase in seven years.
Raton took in $1,362,826 cash from customers in 2017 and $1,534,333 in 2023, an 11-percent cash revenue increase in seven years.
Why is T or C’s solid waste department costing so much? And why do its numbers vary greatly from year to year?
Raton’s audit shows it borrowed under $700,000 to build its collection center in 2017, while T or C borrowed $1.25 million in 2012. T or C expected the county and Elephant Butte to make their citizens use their collection services, but only Williamsburg has shackled its residents to T or C’s solid waste services.
Raton’s website shows recycling is limited to its collection center and to Raton residents. Only separated and explicit categories are accepted. T or C, on the other hand, put out recycling trailers and containers and used trucks and a lot of staff time and labor to collect and sort and package the goods for possible sale. No financial figures are available for how much this recycling operation cost. In 2022 the city stopped placing and collecting the recycling trailers. Raton’s residents can recycle for free and must go to their collection center. T or C offers free recycling to anyone at its collection center. The new recycling rate for 1.5 cubic yard and 3 cubic yard recycling dumpsters will be $30 a month for one collection a week, and $30 more for each additional collection in a week, up to six collections a week at $180 a month in 2025.
Raton residents can take green waste to their collection center for free. Outsiders pay $25 a ton. They grind it up and give it away. T or C will charge $90 a ton in 2025 for green waste to all and sundry and they don’t grind it up, it gets trucked to the landfill.
Raton’s residents can take up to one ton of residential waste to the landfill for free. Outsiders pay $75 a ton. T or C will charge all and sundry $90 a ton (and smaller fractions of that cost in 200 pound increments) for residential waste.
Raton’s residents pay $70 a ton for construction debris and “sanitation waste.” Outsiders pay $75 a ton. T or C charges $90 a ton, making no distinction among yard waste, construction waste or residential waste or between T or C residents and outsiders.
Raton only collects trash from residential and commercial customers living in Raton. Residents share 3-cubic-yard containers and are charged $25.60 a month. Commercial customers don’t share their 3-cubic-yard container and are charged $72 a month. Only a weekly pick up is available. T or C collects 95-gallon polycarts from T or C and Williamsburg residents for $35 a month, once-a-week collection. This rate is in effect through 2028, according to the resolution. Commercial customers may choose 1.5 or 3 cubic-yard containers. Once-a-week collection will be almost $70 a month in 2025.
T or C should do what Raton does in order to get rates down and keep them reasonable. Limit services to T or C and Williamsburg customers to keep the tonnage down and thus the number of trucks and staff needed to collect, move and sort the waste. Recycling should be limited to the collection center to T or C and Williamsburg customers.