Peters Township trash pickup rates to jump 27%
Peters Township residents can expect a significant hike in what they pay for garbage collection next year.
Council unanimously approved a new four-year contract with Waste Management that includes a 27% increase in costs in 2024. Council members Allison Shanafelt and Matt Rost were absent from Monday’s meeting.
Peters Township jointly seeks bids for waste collection through the South Hills Council of Governments (SHACOG), which represents 20 municipalities in the region.
Beginning Jan. 1, Peters Township will go from paying Waste Management $22.39 per month per customer to $28.43 per month. Residents are billed quarterly, and currently pay $70 per quarter, according to Township Manager Paul Lauer.
“That might be going up to as much as $100 per quarter,” Lauer said.
According to Lauer, garbage collection will cost Peters residents $2,287,000 this year.
“Next year those rates go up by 27%. It’s a substantial amount of money over the length of the contract,” Lauer said.
Rates will continue to increase 7% each year until the contract expires in 2028.
Beyond the cost, residents will also have more limits on how much garbage is collected weekly.
When the new contract takes effect, Waste Management will no longer pick up bags. Residents will be limited to one bin for garbage and one for recycling. Additional bins can be requested, but will cost $100 per year per bin.
“The idea is to make it truly automated collection. The only way to do that and keep the guy from having to get out of the truck is to have things in carts,” Lauer explained at Monday’s meeting.
Currently, Peters residents can have two large items, such as furniture, taken each week. Next year, that becomes two large items per month. There will be one week each month when Waste Management picks up bulky items.
Jordan Tax Service currently handles billing on behalf of the township and takes 1.8% for each collection. Lauer said they are going to “rethink” the percentage in light of the large price increase next year.
Lauer suggested to council there are other avenues for billing they could consider.
“We’ve also been approached by the (Peters Township Sanitary Authority). They have an interest in doing the billing for us. Their rate is higher, but there are some advantages maybe to using them,” Lauer said. “We want to have a long discussion about whether or not it makes sense to incorporate this into the property tax.
Lauer added that incorporating the garbage fee into residents’ property taxes would be a significant tax jump, but could ultimately save them money on garbage collection.
“The other thing it does, it transfers some of the burden away from the residents, because the tax applies to commercial properties as well,” Lauer said.