Effective May 15, monthly garbage fees are going up in Whitefish by a little over $3 after the council voted at its most recent meeting to raise rates in what was characterized as an attempt to catch up — and keep up — with both rising administrative costs and increasing costs from the city’s contracted garbage hauler Republic Services.
The vote at the May 5 meeting came despite some issues that were broadly characterized by city staff as relating to billing and communication with Republic Services. Some members of the council supported the idea of the city exploring the possibility of ending mandatory garbage pickup in the city at some point in the future as a means of ending its contract with Republic Services.
During her presentation to the council, City Manager Dana Smith explained that there is a 3.25% annual increase for Republic Services’ fees in the 2022 contract that the city approved, and that up until this week, the city had yet to pass the cost of that onto residents. Instead, it had been using a portion of its cash reserves to cover the cost. But that solution is not tenable, according to Smith.
The increased cost from Republic comes out to $1.59 per customer this year. Additionally, the city’s own administrative costs for things like mailing, postage, staff time to manage accounts and billing, insurance and weekend downtown garbage pickup have increased by about $1.50 to $3. The $3.09 increase means that a typical monthly garbage fee for a resident will go from $17.25 to $20.34.
The resolution passed by the council also included the automatic approval of annual increases of 3.25% on the first day of May 2026 and May 2027.
The city’s solid waste fund for the fiscal year 2025 is for $1.72 million, with about $195,444 of it going towards the city’s costs, according to a staff report about garbage rates that Smith sent to the council last month.
The cost of garbage pickup last took a significant hike in Whitefish in 2022, when the council voted to require bear-resistant garbage containers. That measure raised the cost for garbage services from Republic by roughly $6, for a total monthly cost of $16.75.
The resolution passed by the council this week to raise the cost for garbage pickup also included some additional changes to how the city bills for garbage pickup for commercial accounts. Currently, the city charges a $5 monthly administrative fee per business, but that will be going up to $7 per utility account. Smith said that was reflective of the time in each account that the city was spending as an administrator. However, as Smith explained to the council, with the new change there will also be a new cap of $14 charged per month for utility accounts with more than one business included. Previously the city was charging $5 per business per building.
“So it wouldn’t be, if you had five businesses in a building, it wouldn’t be $25, your max now is actually $14,” Smith said. “So some businesses would actually see a reduction in their commercial account fees.”
Councilor Steve Qunell shared his concern that between the increased garbage rates, and other added costs like levies and increased taxes from property reappraisals, that the city might “wipe out” people on fixed incomes.
“The only way I see getting out of this contract is to no longer require mandatory garbage service,” Smith said. “Which, I will say, there are quite a few communities that do not require garbage service and have not had an issue with code enforcement of yards filling up with trash.”
If the city were to end mandatory garbage pickup, Councilor Rebecca Norton asked about the possibility of a green box site, where residents could drop off their own trash without having to take it all the way to the landfill. But Smith said that the city has spoken with the county about the possibility of a green box site, and the county has not shown interest in paying for one given Whitefish’s proximity to the county landfill.
“If we’re paying for one, you have a fee. So if you’re trying to get rid of the mandatory garbage and the fees that’s associated with, you’re going to have a fee to have to manage a site,” Smith said.
Although various members of the council expressed concerns and frustrations with the increased fees, all of them voted in favor of it with the exception of Councilor Giuseppe Caltabiano, who said that he had voted against the 2022 contract and would take the opportunity to stay consistent to his record knowing that it would not make a difference on the outcome.
Councilor Andy Feury said that he appreciated the discussion about alternatives, but said that such discussions needed to be had in the future, and that the decision before the council was to uphold it’s contractual obligation.
“Unlike what they think they can do in Washington, we can’t simply wave a magic wand and have it change tomorrow, so we need to continue to provide that service, and we need to be able to pay for that service, and we can’t shift that burden off to some other fund in the budget,” Feury said.
For people who are interested in weighing in on mandatory garbage pickup service in Whitefish, the city has posted an online survey at the engagewhitefish.com website.