Los Gatos Weekly-Times

New contract means higher trash rates in Monte Sereno

Residents will pay 6.5 percent more

By Clarence Cromwell

The West Valley trash wars are over, but peace means slightly higher trash bills in Monte Sereno, starting this month.

Monte Sereno became the second city to approve the settlement with trash companies July 15. Then the council adopted a new schedule of trash rates and approved new contracts with Green Valley Disposal Co. and Guadalupe Rubbish Disposal Co. Both contracts last until February 2007.

Saratoga accepted the settlement and the contracts July 2, Campbell did so on July 15, and Los Gatos has yet to do so. Los Gatans won't see a rate increase for at least two years, Town Manager David Knapp said.

Monte Sereno upped trash rates 13 percent under its new rate schedule, but then the City Council gave trash customers a break by rebating the city franchise fee.

The new schedule puts the cost of a single can at $19.16 a month, an increase of $2.27. City Council members softened the blow to residents by letting them have the 10 percent franchise fee the city would collect from Green Valley under the new contract.

After the franchise fee is factored in, a single can will cost $17.99, a 6.5 percent increase.

The new rates were included in a trash bill that was mailed last week.

After the two-year legal wrestling match, the cities and companies agreed, as a term of the settlement, that they'd adopt simplified contracts to head off future disagreements.

The rate dispute stemmed from contracts that let the companies charge customers for operating costs, plus a 5 percent profit. None of the cities agreed with Green Valley and Guadalupe on what costs could be legitimately charged--in fact, the cities didn't agree with one another.

The new contracts toss out the old fee-calculation method and allow trash rates to increase or to decrease as much as 5 percent in future years, based on changes in the consumer price index. The index measures whether prices are increasing or decreasing and how quickly.

The contracts also give each city a franchise fee of 10 percent of the company's gross revenues collected from customers in the city. Only Monte Sereno has foregone the fees thus far. The fees were charged under the old trash contracts as well.

Each city can adjust the franchise fee annually, but the company would be allowed to charge customers for the adjustment.

Early reports of the settlement indicated that Green Valley and Guadalupe would no longer pass tipping fees on to customers. Green Valley pays a tipping fee for every truck it empties at Guadalupe Landfill.

What was actually agreed upon was a tipping fee 20 percent lower than before. Gerard Wen of Green Valley said the tipping fee is included in the new residential trash rates.

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