A controversial sanitation rate increase will go ahead as planned, after the Bloomington Board of Public Works ok’ed it Tuesday night.
The board unanimously passed a motion to raise solid waste cart fees to the maximum rates allowed by the city, increasing rates by about 70 cents per month for the average Bloomington Sanitation customer.
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Public Works Director Adam Wason says the increase will cover some, but not all of the city’s recycling processing fees, which jumped by over $80,000 last year thanks to a new contract with the city’s waste disposal servicer, Republic Services.
“There’s been a major upheaval in the international recycling commodities market, mainly due to some international issues where recycling isn’t being accepted in ways that it was previously," Wason says.
Wason says a 35-gallon solid waste cart will now cost $6.51/month instead of $6.22. For a 64-gallon cart, the monthly rate will increase to $11.61 from $10.52, and for a 96-gallon cart the rate will be $18.52, up from $16.60.
