FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio -- After initially considering a two-year assessment of the Solid Waste Fee Special Assessment, City Council recently amended the ordinance, approving the $10-per-home fee just for 2020.
“It was changed to one year so it can be discussed next year by a new administration and the possibility of all new council people,” Mayor Eileen Ann Patton said.
There are two moving targets the city must deal with. The first involves the Solid Waste Fee Special Assessment, which Fairview Park implemented nearly a decade ago as a cost-cutting move to eliminate in-house garbage and recycling operations. The city opted to go with Republic Services.
The monthly $10 residential fee partially covered the cost of hiring Republic Services to handle refuse. Currently, the fee -- which brings in $727,000 a year -- goes toward Republic Services’ roughly $900,000 annual cost. The balance is paid from the general fund.
The other moving target is the expiring Republic Services contract, which originally was a five-year deal that currently continues in the form of one-year options, with 3 to 4 percent increases built into the contract language.
There are two additional one-year options -- 2020 and 2021 -- that must be mutually agreed upon as part of the current contract.
Patton said Fairview Park is currently paying $13.94 a household for garbage and recycling pickup. Expectations are that the next contract could see upward of a $6-per-home increase.
City Council approving the Solid Waste Fee Special Assessment for one year means that Fairview Park is covered in case, for example, Republic Services doesn’t agree to the 2020 or 2021 one-year option.
At that point, City Council could re-evaluate the fee, including seeking an increase to cover what is expected to be a costly contract for future garbage and recycling pickup.
“We’re meeting with Republic next week to go over their timeline and to make sure that we understand exactly everything as we move forward,” Patton said. “We’re very pleased with Republic. We love their services they give us here.
“Considering next year we’ll have a new council and new mayor coming in, this was a smart move by city council.”
Patton has announced that she will not be seeking re-election.
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