Garbage collection rates are climbing again in Stanislaus County. What is going on?

Stanislaus County leaders could approve another rate increase for garbage service customers in unincorporated areas after those residents were stuck with enormous rate hikes last year.

The county is proposing almost a 10% jump in the area served by Bertolotti Disposal in Salida, Keyes, Crows Landing, Grayson and Westley. A 9% increase is proposed for customers of Gilton Solid Waste Management in the Knights Ferry and Valley Home area.

That’s after households in the county unincorporated areas saw their garbage bills skyrocket by $13 to $30 a month when a state-mandated recycling system began last year.

Garbage rate increases historically are 1% to 3% a year and often tied to the operating losses of hauling companies. But Gilton and Bertolotti were recipients of large amounts of federal COVID-19 relief through the CARES Act.

Gilton in April 2020 received a $2.4 million federal loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, while Bertolotti Disposal was given loans totaling $1.4 million through the same program. The loans to help businesses with payroll costs were forgiven a year later, according to a ProPublica tracker.

Turlock Scavenger, a hauler that also contracts with the county, received an $823,938 Paycheck Protection Program loan in April 2020 that was forgiven in February 2021, according to ProPublica.

Monthly rates could increase 5% for Turlock Scavenger customers in Denair, Empire, Hickman and La Grange. The county’s cost analyses used to justify those increases recommend a 4.7% decrease in the unincorporated pockets of Turlock, also served by Turlock Scavenger.

Supervisors could approve the latest increases after holding a 6:30 p.m. public hearing June 20. The increases, effective July 1, likely won’t sit well with residents stung by last year’s dramatic spike in rates.

“It’s the same old story,” said John Mataka, a customer and social justice advocate in western Stanislaus County. “They get this COVID money, and after they get it, they still want to pass on a rate increase to customers, which is crazy. It’s like double-dipping.”

Why so many increases?

Last year, the escalating garbage service costs included the big rate increases tied to SB 1383 and an additional increase between 3.6% and 5% on July 1, based on rising fuel prices.

The county also is proposing rate increases for commercial service next month, including 10% in the Bertolotti territory, 8.84% in the Gilton area, and a 5% increase and 4.7% decrease in the respective Turlock Scavenger areas. The proposed residential and commercial rates would net $1.54 million for the hauling companies.

The millions of dollars in COVID relief for the haulers was not factored into the county’s rate-setting process, county staff said.

Will Richards, the county’s solid waste manager, said garbage rates are adjusted under a 15-year-old county policy that strictly looks at the expenses of trash collection and revenue recovered from customers in each area.

Richards said inflation and fuel costs are partly driving the newest rate increases, but he also mentioned labor costs, even though the federal relief for the haulers included payroll assistance.

Regardless of what the county has done in the past, Richards said he didn’t know if it could factor COVID relief into setting the garbage rates.

Richards said the higher rates imposed last year were not that precise because the recycling system was new and the county lacked background data to use as a guide. But the proposed rates this year are “right-sized” for the recycling costs.

An outside firm, HF&H Consultants, assisted the county with the recent review of the collection and recycling costs. The county says the analysis concluded Bertolotti and Gilton were operating at a loss and qualify for rate increases above a 5% limit.

Supervisor Terry Withrow said he thinks the federal relief should not be considered in setting the rates.

“These were funds that they got to help them stay solvent during the shutdowns,” Withrow said. “I don’t think we can punish them for the money they got from the federal government that so many businesses got.”

Withrow said the unstable garbage rates in the last 18 months were due to things beyond the county’’s control, such as the state recycling mandate and inflation.

He said the county is trying to figure a way to soften the blow for disadvantaged communities.

How the relief funds were spent

Richard Gilton, owner of Gilton Solid Waste, said the $2.4 million in CARES Act relief was used for a variety of expenses, as the company collected garbage in the county area and cities. “We were essential workers,” he said. “We did not have the luxury of staying home.”

Employees were paid an extra $2 an hour for working during the crisis and drivers were sometimes paid overtime for running routes.

Gilton said there were costs for sanitizing trucks every day, safety equipment and protections for customers who came into the office. He suggested the federal relief didn’t go far for a company with 350 employees and 150 trucks, which are costly to insure and maintain.

Gilton said the company has no control over national inflation of 5.5% and expensive fuel costs. He said he didn’t have a prediction on whether garbage rates will stabilize for customers in the next few years.

“When you break it down to what we do every week, it costs people $6 to $7 a week,” Gilton said. “I don’t have a prediction of what the economy is going to do in the next week.”

Bertolotti General Manager Steve Holloway issued a statement on the company’s use of $1.4 million in COVID relief. The money was spread among six Bertolotti businesses serving cities, the county and a transfer station, with $514,765 allocated to the one covering the county service area.

The statement said all employees received hazard pay between April and June 2020, accounting for $189,000 of the Paycheck Protection funds.

“The remainder of the loan was spent over the next two years on increased overtime/double time to employees as we weathered numerous COVID outbreaks. We had to backfill routes with drivers that were healthy and paid them overtime or double time. It was a constant juggling act,” Holloway wrote.

His statement said the proposed rate adjustment is a separate issue. It’s about costs already incurred and future costs of the SB 1383 mandate, along with inflation. The company spent $1.9 million purchasing recycling containers for households and $2.1 million on new trucks for the increased services under SB 1383, Holloway said.

Families have suffered

Mataka said low-income families also suffered hardships due to COVID-19. The town of Grayson was excluded from the recycling program last year because of the steep rates. Grayson residents with a single refuse container will start paying $40.14 a month, up from $36.50, if county leaders approve the increase next month.

Most of Bertolotti’s proposed monthly rates would range from $40.14 to $50.26, depending on use of 60- or 90-gallon containers. Gilton’s would range from $34.94 to $40.71 and Turlock Scavenger’s from $46.35 to $56.56 in Denair-Empire and $45.62 to $52.98 in county pockets of Turlock.

Residents in the county jurisdiction saw their monthly rates skyrocket in 2022 when the county implemented the state recycling requirements, which are causing higher rates across California. The climate bill, signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016, aims to divert organic waste material that emits greenhouse gasses when buried in landfills.

Under the new system, residents use three containers — two in the Gilton service area — to separate their household waste so that organic materials including discarded food, yard clippings and food-soiled paper, plus other recyclables, are diverted from the waste stream going to the Fink Road landfill and garbage incinerator near Crows Landing.

State officials say organic wastes in landfills are responsible for 20% of California’s methane emissions that contribute to warming the environment.