On Monday, City Council will consider a 5.4 percent increase in trash and recycling service rates within the City of Gilroy.
Recology South Valley, the waste company that the city contracts with, asked the city to consider the 2012 rate increase. City staff has already reviewed and approved the increase, and if council adopts it, rates will take effect July 1.
Recology attributed the proposed cost increase to the rising cost of fuel.
As required by law, Recology notified Gilroy homeowners about the public hearing by mail in March. The city received 41 letters of complaint, which is less than 1 percent of homeowners in Gilroy, according to a report by the city. If a majority of homeowners were to write protests to the city, council could not legally impose the increase.
If the increase passes, one 32-gallon residential bin will cost $28.25 monthly, up from 26.80.
“Everytime you turn around the City of Gilroy wants to raise the rates on just about everything. There is no reason Recology should have a rate increase because of gas prices as all of us have to pay the higher price in gas,” wrote homeowners Larry and Cheryl Carlotta in a letter to the city on March 23.
“Whoever negotiated and approved this contract for the city was an idiot! Every year the cost increase is loaded on the backs of Gilroyans,” William Miller of Hacienda Drive wrote to the city on March 24.
A few of the protest letters suggested the option of bi-weekly pickup, as they claim to never fill their weekly trash bin.
Monday’s discussion at 6:00 in the council chambers is open for public comment.
Also on the agenda:
- Council plans to vote on a resolution prepared by the Gilroy Police Department that gives no leniency in prosecuting firearm crimes by felons. The resolution says that defendants charged with firearm violations in Gilroy receive “maximum sentencing allowable under law.”
- Council plans to vote to approve a new community development block grant for the upcoming fiscal year, where the city will allocate $457,819 in grant monies to “eligible services” such as the Gilroy Youth Center, St. Joseph’s Employment Services, improvements at San Ysidro Park among many others.
- Council will vote on a moratorium of the sign ordinance violations while the city takes the time to review the current sign ordinance and possibly adopt a new one.
- Council plans to vote to scrap the old public dancing ordinance and adopt a new ordinance, which uses more specific language and loosens regulation for small and medium dance venues.
Read about how the meeting went online at gilroydispatch.com on Tuesday.
