City staff will tell the Finance and Budget Committee Tuesday that Evanston needs to raise its trash collection fees by as much as 15.8% next year.
The increase, Public Service Bureau Chief Noel Rodriguez says in a memo, is needed to respond to big pay increases agreed to for the city’s union workforce and to maintain adequate reserves in the city’s solid waste fund.
The city’s also facing a bill of nearly $225,000 for its share of roof repair costs at the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County’s transfer station in Des Plaines.
Rodriguez outlines two alternative scenarios to at 15.8% rate hike next year.
One would spread the increase over two years.
The other would impose only a minimal 1.8% increase next year — but at the cost of totally burning through the funds reserves.
And there may be more increases coming in 2025. That’s when contracts with the private firms that pick up refuse and yard waste throughout the city are up for renewal.