Another modest Waste Management rate increase has been approved by the Nevada City City Council. But some Councilmembers, again, didn’t hold back on service issues. At just over five-percent, it means just another 82-cents a month for most customers, starting with July bills, or those with 35-gallon carts. It’s an annual cost-of-living adjustment allowed in the contract. And the local company’s Public Sector Manager, Shavati Karki-Pearl, told the Council at its Wednesday night meeting that it’s despite even higher costs for them…

click to listen to Shavati Karki-Pearl

Karki-Pearl also mentioned that the commercial contamination rate is coming down. Currently, if a recycle bin is more than five-percent contaminated with other kinds of waste, the customer is charged 100-percent of the corresponding monthly trash rate for equivalent bin size. But Pearl says with more proper recycling occurring, fines are being reduced by about a-fourth. Meanwhile, Councilmember Gary Peterson described Waste Management’s service as “abysmal”…

click to listen to Gary Peterson

The current contract agreement for the city expires at the end of June in 2025.