The Evanston City Council voted Monday to boost the recycling fee by 30 percent, from $2.86 to $3.72 per month.
The fee is added to city water bills, whether residents fill up their orange recycling bins or not.
A month ago the aldermen postponed action on the fee hike after Alderman Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward, said it would give residents “a disincentive to recycle.â€
But City Manager Julia Carroll said, “We’d prefer to switch to a garbage charge, but now we have to cover the costs in this particular contract for this year. The only reason we’re proposing this is that we didn’t have time to look at the overall program during the budget preparation cycle.â€
The fee applies to single family homes, apartment buildings with four or fewer units and to condo complexes that are at least 75 percent owner-occupied.
Action postponed
The council held off action on two other measures. One would adopt the International Energy Conservation Code, the other would repeal or revise the housing demolition tax the council adopted last fall.