Garbage rates likely to increase on South Shore
Garbage rates on the South Shore are expected to go up Jan. 1.
South Tahoe Refuse is asking for a 2.78 percent increase in South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County and 2.73 in Douglas County. Per month, this equates to 69 and 79 cents for city and El Dorado County residents and 45 cents for Douglas residents with one 32-gallon can.
First the respective jurisdictions must sign off on the increase, which is based on the Consumer Price Index. That discussion will happen in December.
— Lake Tahoe News staff report
Bring in some competition. We’ll see how far a price increase goes.
And what % does the City get?
Is mandatory service even legal? Cross the border to Douglas county and that requirement disappears. What a racket: 40% of your customers aren’t even home, generating no trash but STR gets full pop for idling by those empty houses. Plus they offer no standardized containers as part of the service and are now disallowing bins. I bought a bin as they did not provide one and I was tired of losing lids and having the wind knock the trash can over. Now they are saying some cans of trash are heavy to lift and are considering higher rates for responsible people who went out and bought a decent can on their own. Some trash cans are heavy? Sounds like a job description to me. How about buy some lifts for your trucks with your requested increase and stop your monopolistic whining. …or buy some lifts with the last few increases and provide a decent container. Plus, spare me this idea that we all now have to go out and buy a bear box. That’s just more of the same, shifting costs to the consumer.
I agree with the above posts but would like to add this. When my wife and I had our business in Tahoe, we couldn’t go to our customer base and “demand” money just to make improvements or up salaries. We had to bare that on our own. Why do we have to bare this with the trash company? Maybe STR should tighten their belts and suffer the same affects the economy has had on us.
It is quite a racket they have going. They do make a lot of money on service that is not rendered. I had to keep service on a house that nobody lived in because it was on the market to be sold. Just because I had water I had to have garbage. Big rip-off.
@Atomic, if they got lifts, they will really raise the rates as they did in the Bay Area where I live most of the time. They provide the cans, have lots of rules you must follow, the service is horrible and I usually have more garbage on the street after they come through. It is also mandatory to have service here if you have water, too.
Lets take this increase, tax, user fee whatever you want to call it to a vote along with the paid parking.
Just as sure as the sun will rise in the am, and set in the pm, our City Council will first whine about the rate increase (to act like they’re working on our behalf) and then vote to go along with it! So yes Buck, we need to also put this to a vote!
El Dorado County and City residents should demand parity with the lower rates that Douglas County enjoys. Too much good old boy nepotism going on here.
the lower rates douglas county enjoys??? They pay by the can so don’t put out one extra bag. The service is awesome from STR if I put out 100 bags of trash they take it. If I were in douglas county I would be off to pay for all that trash and have to haul it myself. For what we pay and what we can dispose of we should not complain. Thanks STR for a job well done. Happy to send my Checks to you.
I live in “lower” Douglas County and am very happy with the service we’re provided by, essentially, the same folks who service y’all at the Lake. I pay a fixed rate for my very large container – I’ve never overflowed but I can always haul trash to the “dump” (sorry if I’m showing my age) at a very minimal fee.
But I also have the option of opting out of the service, and hauling to the dump on my own. At, again, minimal fee. I’d probably save money, but it’s not worth the hassle. I have friends who haul their own trash at, what they tell me is, a significant savings.
I’m rarely a fan of our extreme conservative politics down here, but, at least with the trash issue, they stood up for me. Maybe South Lake Tahoe voters should start looking for politicians who look out for them rather than the fleeting and ungrateful tourist attractions who finance their campaigns. Most of the political supporters up there “buy” candidates, but few of them actually even have a vote in California.
Mandatory garbage plays into South Tahoe Refuses ability to gouge their customers, if we could opt out, they might be a little less pushy with their rate hikes, though mandatory does keep our town cleaner, some would opt out with grand plans of taking their garbage to the station, while these plans would never materialize.
How do these rates compare to other California cities? Other like sized mountain communities across the country?
The rate increase for your mandatory garbage service is written into the contract with the city of SLT to provide a service. The only thing negotiable is the amount of the increase. For us full time residents it’s a pretty good deal, unlimited amount of trash picked up whether it’s one can or a hundred. The house that puts out a hundred bags of pine needles pays the same as the person who puts out one bag per week. Put out as many bags of trash and pine needles and you pay a flat rate, not as it is in the case of Douglas county which get charged per bag or can.
The people who get the short end of the stick are the the out of town vacation home owners (like half the homes on my street),here in So. Shore maybe just once ,twice, three times a year their at there cabin but they must pay the garbage company year round for a service very rarely used. The price for all those empty homes offset the cost for all us full timers to have unlimited mandatory service. I just hope the employees see a wage inrease as a result of a higher customer bill. They work there butts off!!!
Recycling numbers are up for STR. The wood chip from STR goes to Full Circle Compost in Minden, making for some real fine dirt for next years garden.What goes around comes around. Take care( and take your garbage out), Old Long Skiis
OLS, I’m with you on this. Every spring, we clean like crazy and they take everything without complaint. They earn their money. They are very good about taking alost anything. And Copper is right, IMHO, about the hassle factor, though we in California do not have the option of not paying. The hassle factor really comes into play as regards recycling. From my quick, unofficial and unauthorized poll of friends in other places, this is a pretty good deal (especially considering the recycling). The way I see the cost for the vacation home owners is that they have chosen to live here only occasionally, that is just exercising their freedom. Good night fellow citizens.
BTW, I have read this exact same headline for over 35 years. LOL.