Britt City Council to Meet Tuesday on Garbage and Recycling Rates

The Britt City Council will meet on Tuesday beginning at 7pm. The council will vote on whether to increase garbage and recycling rates among residents in the city. The council is being asked to amend an ordinance with no published ordinance number that would go into effect immediately which would increase recycling and garbage rates substantially this year.   

Recycling is currently at $4.18. If this ordinance is approved on October 1st, it will jump 32% to $5.52 for this year. A 64-gallon trash container will increase 5.4% to $12.42. That is nearly a 40% increase in 2024. In addition, recycling rates are proposed to increase every year by 2% starting July 1, 2025 in perpetuum. Garbage is scheduled to increase by 3% in 2025 and every year beyond.

Compounding the situation, the council was informed earlier this year by City Administrator Elizabeth Ibarra that there would be no increases by the city and Absolute Waste to garbage and recycling, if the council would agree to becoming a member of the Landfill of North Iowa. A chapter 28E agreement was approved on March 5th with that understanding.  The 28E Agreement required the city to make a lump sum payment of $5,000 by July 1, 2024. The sum of $60,706.80 is payable in five equal installments of $12,141.36 July 1st, 2024 through July 1st, 2028. In addition to the installments, the city is required to pay annual per capita fees but those amounts were not specified in the 28E agreement that was approved on March 5th.