Boca sees trash fees as way to pay for growth

Boca residents may see a change in their trash and recycling fees in the coming years as officials figure how to keep up with the growing population.

Under proposals discussed Monday, the city could raise fees to residents to expand facilities or contract out the trash and recycling pickup in order to keep up with demand.

“We’re seeing existing strain on the current operation,” Dan Grippo, director of the Boca’s municipal services, told City Council members. “The need to expand would also cause the cost of service to go up.”

Among some of the problems, Grippo cites issues with the facilities and staffing — the department can hardly house its fleet of more than 40 collection trucks on top of needing to add 12 to 16 more. He also said his staff has had to rack up about $200,000 in overtime to keep up.

On the table are two options, council members decided Monday:

The city can invest in expanding its facilities, where extra building space is limited.

Or, sell its fleet and contract the pickup services to another company.

Finding new space to expand could take about three years and more than $21 million, according to city documents. It cost the city $6.8 million last year to haul away garbage, recycling and vegetation.

Grippo said hiring a company to do the work saved other cities a few dollars to residents per month.

Otherwise, the current $16.90 per month rate for a single-family home would likely get an increase to make up for the expansion. But to what degree is unknown at this time.

Either way, the city has about a year to decide what to do.

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.

Officials can opt into contracting out all pickup services or add the homes in the annexed area to its workload. That would mean by the year 2020 about 6,485 more homes would be piled onto the 47,400 the city already serves.

“We are bursting at the seams, so clearly we need to do something for space,” Councilwoman Andrea O’Rourke said. “But we have to remember there is a cost to growth.”