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ECUA To Vote On 9.5% Sanitation Rate Increase With ‘Free’ Second Can, 5% Hike For Water And Sewer
August 21, 2023
The Emerald Coast Utilities Authorities will vote Tuesday on a proposed 9.5% rate increase for all sanitation customers and 5% for water and sewer.
Facing a potential $1.8 million shortball and big problems with the wrong items being placed in recycling cans, staff had proposed a more modest 3.5% rate increase for sanitation customers plus a $3 a month recycling fee.
The 9.5% increase will raise the rate for a 90-gallon container from $27.67 to $29.88 and include an optional additional trash or recycling can at no cost.
ECUA is also raising rates on seven entities outside Escambia County — like Foley, Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa County — from their current $15-$45 per ton for recyclables to a flat $60 per ton due to high contamination levels.
ECUA staff had proposed a 4% rate increase for water and 6% for wastewater. The board will consider an increase to both water and wastewater by 5%.
The rate increases will return to the ECUA board Tuesday at 3 p.m. for a final vote.
Comments
39 Responses to “ECUA To Vote On 9.5% Sanitation Rate Increase With ‘Free’ Second Can, 5% Hike For Water And Sewer”
To the folks saying just haul your own trash if you are unhappy about the rates. OK, ECUA employee posters, I understand your position. Of course, since the other Gang of 5 voted to make mandatory trash service for all residences, one has to pay regardless. You get paid for not providing the service, not much different than now. Just a self-serving monopoly that could use some competition if it can’t be outright dis-banded….
Charlotte Swartz. They will have an open hearing and you can speak but they come to that meeting already knowing what they will do – it’s decided ahead between them. The hearing is just a formality since it is required legally. Nothing will change there bureaucratic egos.
I’d obviously prefer NO rate hikes. However, if there is going to be one, charging a small amount for a second can of any type makes more sense than a larger base increase across the board. I say that having a recycle can which I will likely have changed to just a second regular one. I won’t like even $2-3 a month, but makes more sense than my neighbor with only a single can having to pay that much more while for the same cost I continue with two.
Did I read correctly in that other entities recyclables are loaded with contamination? So they know where a lot of this contamination is coming from yet are voting on an across the board increase? The ECUA governing authority needs to be abolished and replaced with folks who will hold those accountable causing most of the problems.
@ Choices
PLEASE DO NOT BURN GARBAGE! One of my neighbors does, I can not breath it. Plastic burning is harmful. Not sure but, I think it might even be illegal!
OH, and burning wet leaves – PLEASE DO NOT DO THAT EITHER!
Wood and dry leaves – no problem!
ECUA should look within and cut overhead costs, like those being amassed in its failed, virtue signaling, recycle effort. Since most if not all recycles head directly to the dump, go ahead, shut it down tonight. Recycling has become a duplication of trucks and drivers, who are traveling the same routes, doing the same job, hauling trash to the landfill. Think about it; even if homes get a second can, it wouldn’t require the same two separate trucks.
For those of you who are ECUA sanitation customers, look on the bright side. Starting October 1st, you will be paying less than those of us who live in the City of Pensacola and you will also have a higher level of service, even better than the higher level you now enjoy. The city’s motto should be “Higher Taxes & Poorer Services.” Last Monday, only one of the city’s recycling trucks was working. Sanitation drivers have for years told me that the city’s trucks are very poorly maintained. My wife was told that the other recycling trucks were all broken. Our recycling can was not emptied until Tuesday. Unexplainably, on Monday, the city did not empty my 96-year old neighbor’s black garbage. The city picked up the black garbage cans on either side but not hers. How is that even possible? We called for her and later on Monday the city did send a truck back just to empty her garbage can. Crazy. The city routinely fails to empty one of our cans and as often as not leaves the can sitting out in the street and sometimes turned on its side.
Face it folks,
ECUA is going to do what they
want. NO matter how much you complain.
Its not fair for them ECUA go against
what they want. regardless what the people
who voted for want……..
@RWA we had our recycling can picked up because someone, after we put it out at the curb, put old construction materials in our can. The driver took a picture & next thing we know, our can is gone. When ECUA was called, they told us it was picked up because non recyclables were put in it. They brought another can out & told us if they pick it up again for non recyclables being put in it, we would never get it back. So, we don’t put it out at the curb until 5:30 trash pickup morning. Don’t know why your neighbor doesn’t get theirs taken away but then ECUA isn’t consistent with everything.
You can:
1) Continue garbage service which makes sense if you have a lot
2) End service and burn your garbage and/or take it to the dump yourself
Good thing they went to one pick up a week and started using those natural gas vehicles to save us money. No fee ever goes down, only up.
I’ve had that stupid brown recycle can on my driveway for years and Its never been to the street. Please come pick up that crap, because I damn sure won’t be paying the $3 per month for something I have never used. Like has been mentioned already, if you want to fully justify these increases, lets see the full accounting books including REAL (not made up) salaries/wages for every employee at ECUA from the top down. You can bet if those rate increases go through the top dogs will get a salary increase as a result. So much for that alleged shortfall.
I seeing all the comments here let’s get a few things straight. First everyone generates trash of some sort and the amount differs as well. Yet ECUA is below the national average for this type of service. Other municipalities actually charge for both trash and recycling programs to offset the cost. Now everyone is complaining about Cost going up. I know a few drivers at ECUA they are operating old trucks that are constantly in need of repairs, mechanics can’t work fast enough to get them all on the road. They have had new trucks on order for over a year at $493,000 ea.hoping to get them in next April .ECUA is putting thru the minimum rate increases to collect your refuge all while everyone complains about the programs. Selling recycling is based upon the buyers quality inspection of what ECUA is offering when it has a contamination rate of 50% or higher the price plummets. When the Contamination rate is 10% or less it is a sought after commodity. As for the trash mountain contact the county commissioners they are the ones who chose this fine location. But let’s get real with that no one wants to live next to the dump.
After observing my Recycle container and my garbage container emptied into the SAME truck continually for 6 months, I had my Recycle container picked up. It was senseless for me to separate the contents while ECUA scrambled them back together. This company is grossly mismanaged and even more poorly operated in the field. I’m willing to bet, the lions share of these rate hikes are going directly into the pockets of some “good old boys” somewhere.
I need to get into this game, i can tell my job, hey I vote myself a raise k thanks!
On a more realistic note, it blows my mind how they think they are the only ones to ever have this problem with recycling contamination. They removed the community recycling bins because of this contamination issue, that’s their solution to everything that becomes a problem – get rid of it. They got rid of bulk pickups, like who has time to call? now they want to make it a hindrance to recycle- and we pay more for the disservice.
Good Afternoon,
It appears that the community really does not have any say in the rate increase, only a place to express our dissatisfaction. So, will ECUA send out a form to fill out to have our recycle cans removed? And, will the community be given any information on the quality of our drinking water ( that most people don’t drink from the faucet). Another question, will seniors get a break?
One more thing, will the ECUA drivers maybe pick up some trash that may not be perfectly canned or will they continue to drive past it? Pensacola is a city without environmental aesthetics.
Just last week I WATCHED with my own EYES see the garbage truck empty my garbage and my recycle can in the same truck so what does it matter about recycling bc ECUA Dont care oh and this is not the first time the truck has done it so they can just come get my can for recycling
Yeah, ECUA can come to get my recycle can. I don’t produce enough trash per week staying at home all week and going nowhere as it is to warrant the hassle of separating my trash and doing a 3rd of ECUA’s job. I’ll just use my one can, and keep on keepin’ on.
The first part of Florida that can be seen when entering our state on I-10 eatsbound before you, can even see the state line sign is what I have dubbed “Trash Mountain”. It is the large hill of trash covered with a beautiful layer of sod at the Perdido Landfill on Beulah rd. Literally the first thing you can see of Florida is our trash. Makes me wonder if the same people that choose that location were the same people that put the old sewage plant downtown so long ago.
Okay so real problem here is that our facilities for recycling have been working off and on for the past two years whether it be storms, fire, lack of labor or just too expensive for the county and city to operate. This begs the question why was there no rate decrease during these times? There should at least have been a credit given to customers for these absences of service but alas there was none. They did at one point offer a free can if you asked for it.
I look around and can tell exactly why the rates are going up it’s the fuel and people wanting to be paid a living wage so they can afford the gas to get to work. I can understand the rate hike for these reasons alone. Remember there are only two certainties in life, death and taxes. Soon we might even be out of room on Trash Mountain and when that happens get ready for a really substantial rate increase.
Wow. you guys in the comments just wow. “I only produce x amount of trash a week” lol no you don’t you produce way more than that every time you leave your home and go out to eat that’s your trash, every time you buy something at the Raceway and toss it in the Walmart trash bin that’s your trash. You produce just as much trash as the next person no matter how many folks live in your home.
If you don’t like it turn in your cans and transport and take your garbage to the dump yourselves!! That’s right you are paying not just to have your garbage picked up you are paying for the CONVIENCE of not doing it yourself because there is NO LAW saying you can’t do it yourselves. Quit whining and cancel your garbage service than you wont have to gripe about “paying the same fair rate as everyone else”
@Jason
Recycling addresses a very real problem. Instead of scrapping our recycling program, let’s *fix* it.
@bob
Do you also believe that the military, police, and fire departments are “financial dogs”? After all, just like recycling programs, they do not produce a profit.
Or do you acknowledge that, like recycling, they are public services that cost money, but benefit the people that live in the community?
Jason – you are absolutely correct!!!
MP – I agree!!! With the technology available today, we should pay based on the waste we generate!!!
Recycling is a financial dog. It does not pay for itself – it is funded by government subsidies, higher fees/taxes for taxpayers.
I do not agree with using my hard-earned money to pay for recycling!!!
@ Bob —- its hard to agree with you since it clear that ECUA frequently landfills a host of alleged “recyclables”. Their strongest market appears to be cardboard or glass. Considering the need for a large increase in rates, it is apparent that the cost/benefit analysis isnt favorable for consumers. Therego, for those who desire to recycle, let them shoulder the cost of the program.
@Jason
“Its awfully frustrating that those who have opted out of recycling and forced to shoulder the burden for money-losing activity.”
Even if you don’t recycle, you are still benefitting from the program. Recycling reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, reduces the production costs of new materials, and mitigated microplastics being introduced into the environment.
Here’s an idea:
With the amount of sensors and monitoring going on today, why not pro-rate rate increases based on customer refuse volume?
Customers who produce less trash pay less, customers who produce the most pay more. Structure this like a *utility* rather than a service if you’re going to increase rates every year to account for it.
This could be done with a scale such as SSB Sealed Beam Load Cells, or using the scale already fitted to the trucks. Just an idea.
The recycling can in the photo looks very happy!
Will this be an open meeting so the public can address these increases or will it just be the “committee” that decides all these increases? It’s time the public is involved with some of these decisions, not just bigwigs who make too much money and therefore cause most of the shortfall. As for recycling, do they really recycle? If so then the recycling is sold to those who will use it to make new products. Oh well, things aren’t going to change, those who are higher up will continue to raise prices so they can raise their pay. Sad world these days and it will only get worse.
Then next Aug they do it all over again. No oversight.
Why do none of these rate hikes come up for public discussions? If ECUA is posing as a government entry, than a simple board should not have full control.
First, how much are the executives getting paid? Maybe to cut down on “surging prices”, there should be less people making giant sums of money. The majority of people who pays those rates aren’t making giant sums of money. Look at how much ECUA has raised the rates in just the last 5 years. 5% here, 6% there, and now another 9.5%. So in the last 5 years, we’re somewhere around 20% to 25%. Has anyone else’s pay gone up that much? We should stop the recycling scam. You can only recycle certain types of cardboard, glass, and plastic. So why are we wasting the effort and money? Why can a business with a guaranteed monopoly, keep coming up with more scams to steal more money from their customers? ECUA is guaranteed business, or the city, county will at the very least fine you through Code Enforcement. How is this the way to do business?
Come pickup both of my cans and you wont get your blood money
ECUA IS CRIMINAL
Show us your math.
@jason
I agree. You would think with modern technology, all waste companies could charge a base rate plus a charge for the number of cans emptied. Even better would be to weigh each can since the charge at the county dump is weight based.
It seems the majority of recycling ends in the landfill and very little is actually recycled. If that is true, what is the point. Find out what recycled materials are profitable and actually recycled and only recycle those products.
Agree with Jason. My husband and I have one bag of garbage for the week. On recycling, I understand about contamination. There is a house down from mine that uses their recycling can for yard debris. When evident, those people need to be fined or the can picked up.
If the 3 dollar charge for recycling is passed, i will have my can picked up.
OK, let’s play. Since we are forced to have trash pick-up in the city, I want a fixed price to go with my fixed income. This pick-pocketing stops or they can limit my pick-up to once a month for a quarter of the price since I have practically no trash.
Since the staff proposed a much lower increase, who proposed the 9.5% increase? Will whoever proposed the 9.5% increase personally profit from that increase or anyone who votes on it if if passed?
Rate payers could save MORE THAN $1.8 million dollars if ECUA eliminated recycling efforts. Its time that voters started taking a hard look at their ECUA representatives and electing a replacement. This current board only knows the phrase “rate hike”. They love to reach deeper and deeper into the pockets of the consumers.
If people desire to recycle, than let those folks pay for that service. Its awfully frustrating that those who have opted out of recycling and forced to shoulder the burden for money-losing activity.
Its also frustrating that a single person who generates a small bag of waste each week, pays the same price as a family of 5 or 6 people generating 2+ cans of overflowing waste during the same time period. Many of the current ECUA consumers would never fill a 40 gallon can once a month let alone two 90 gallon cans every week, but the each user pays the same price. Its time for better ideas to come from the ECUA board on how to solve their budget woes.