A $2 monthly increase in residential solid waste rates could go into effect as soon as June 2020. Consideration of the proposed solid waste rate increase was tabled for one month Monday, March 16, 2020 by the Las Cruces City Council in order to give customers additional time to prepare for the adjustment. It will be brought back to the Council at its April 20, 2020 meeting.
The new monthly rate for a residential 96-gallon container will be $15.25. The monthly rate for a 64-gallon container will be $13.25. In the new rate structure, residential customers could keep their current rate by opting for the smaller, 64-gallon container. The 96- and 64-gallon containers are the same height, but the 64-gallon container is narrower.
The new monthly rate for a commercial 96-gallon container will be $28, as compared to the current rate of $27.80. The new monthly rate for a 1.5 cubic yard commercial trash receptacle picked up once a week, will be $70, as compared to the current rate of $64.
The new solid waste rates would replace those that had been in effect since 2015. The new rates will offset a shortfall of $1.34 million that an independent consultant determined was needed to maintain the level of service for customers.
Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) is a City department but is not funded by tax dollars. Operations for LCU are solely funded through monthly utility billing to recover the cost of providing services to customers.
If the new monthly rate is approved by the Council, the LCU Board of Commissioners will approve the implementation of the new rates and tariffs. In order to mitigate future impact to customer, LCU staff will conduct and recommend more periodic rate reviews as required.
The new solid waste rates came to be after the Utilities Customer Advisory Group (UCAG) conducted 12 Community Conversations from September 2019 to December 2019. The UCAG recommended a full-cost-of-service increase in late 2019, and the LCU Board of Commissioners accepted the recommendation in January 2020.