You may have to pay more for garbage pick-up in Fresno
FRESNO, Calif. (KGPE/KSEE) – The City of Fresno plans to increase the price residents pay to have their trash collected, after 15 years of it staying the same.
City officials say it is down to higher operation costs and a five-year plan has been proposed by the City of Fresno that would slowly increase solid waste rates.
Solid waste services in Fresno might go up: what can you do?
The current rate for a standard service (96-gallon solid waste service) is $25.37 a month. If the proposed rate increase is approved, rates for garbage pick-up in 2026 could be as high as $35.30 in Fresno – and continue going up to $45.24 in 2029.
According to the Department of Public Utilities, if they don’t raise the price of solid waste rates they’ll have to dig into their reserves – which will be depleted before July. Assistant Director of Public Utilities Paul Amico says the department has not been making ends meet since 2015.
“We really started seeing the erosion of our operating reserves [in 2015].” Amico said, “And then since the inflation we’ve seen post-pandemic we fully depleted those operating reserves, we’ve been operating in about $2 million to $4 million deficit, each of the last three years.”
Department officials say over the past 10 years the operational costs increased by seven and a half million dollars. They also say fleet maintenance costs increased by $2.8 million annually.
In an effort to keep the public informed and provide resources, the city is hosting a series of 12 community meetings. The meeting details are below:
Thursday, March 28, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Maxie L. Parks Community Center, 1802 E California Ave.
Tuesday, April 2, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.: Mountain View Elementary School, 2002 E. Alluvial Ave.
Wednesday, April 3, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.: Oraze Elementary School, 3468 N Armstrong Ave.
Tuesday, April 9, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Sunnyside High School, 1019 S Peach Ave.
Wednesday, April 10, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Teague Elementary School, 4725 N Polk Ave.
Tuesday, April 16, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Roosevelt High School, 4250 E. Tulare Ave.
Wednesday, April 17, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.: Duncan Polytechnical High School, 4330 E. Garland Ave.
Thursday, April 18, 6 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Hoover High School, 5550 N. First St.
Tuesday, April 23, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Figarden Elementary School, 6235 N. Brawley Ave.
Wednesday, April 24, 6 p.m,. – 8 p.m. Fresno High School, 1839 N. Echo Ave.
The meetings are designed to give members of the community a chance to speak their minds. Anyone wanting to protest the increase in rates is asked to either fill out a protest card or submit an alternate written protest.
