Boca looks to outsource

Company would haul trash, recycling

On trash day, residents might not see collection trucks donning the city’s logo roll into their neighborhoods anymore.

Boca officials decided this week to look for an outside company to take over collecting trash, recycling and other curbside waste that would cut costs to residents.

Every month, residents of single family homes pay $16.90 for the service, but contracting the service out could mean about $2 less per month.

“We do break even pretty muchat the end of the day,” Dan Grippo, the city’s municipal services director, said Tuesday. “A savings really goes right back to the residents.”

Officials estimate that haul- ing solidwaste from homes will cost the city about $7.7 million this year, which is paid for by resident fees.

In the past few decades, Boca’s City Council has kicked around the idea to outsource its waste collection. But officials repeatedly said an expansion of the city’s services is cheaper than hiring a third-party-vendor.

But demand has grown since then and city staff said the sanitation division is already strained and understaffed. By the year 2020, there would about 6,485 more homes, atop the 47,400 the city already has, according to the city.

Once a company is chosen, Boca would join a majority of cities in Palm Beach County that don’t take out the trash themselves — nine out of more than 30 municipalities, including Boca, still have in-house collection service.

Handling that job in Boca is

50 employees and a fleet of more than 40 trucks.

It’s still unclear what changes in service residents can expect. The city offers trash pickup twice per week while hauling recycling and vegetation once aweek.

In a letter to the city, Grippo said his department is already weighing a 50-cent increase for next year to keep up with the current demand.

And the city has a year to wrap up a deal. An area near the Town Center mall was annexed into the city in 2003 and still has its waste pickup contracted out. The deal is set to expire in September 2018.

Bill DeAngelis, of Boca, said he has been mostly satisfied with howthe city has handled pickup so far. Dealing with an outside company might be more difficult, he said.

“I know exactly where to go if there’s an issue,” DeAngelis said. “I’m sure I could go to the city and they’d relay the message.”