Athens Services Requests 10 Percent Rate Hike

The Redondo Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider a request from the Athens Services, the city's trash hauler, to increase rates by 10 percent.

According to a city staff report, Athens Services requested the rate adjustment Oct. 1 due to the closure of the Puente Hill Landfill last Thursday. Puente Hill is the largest and historically most affordable landfill in Los Angeles County, according to the report.

As part of its contract with the city, which was approved in January 2011 and became effective in July of the same year, Athens Services agreed that any rate increases would be indexed to the year-to-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers or 5 percent, whichever is less, according to the staff report. The rate is not directly tied to fees for landfill facilities.

The requested 10 percent increase would cost single households an additional $1.21 per month to the current $14.24 per month. The average commercial business would see a $7.29 per month increase from $72.89 per month.

Because Athens' proposed rate adjustment is larger than the contract's rate adjustment formula, "a Proposition 218 majority protest vote would be required to execute the rate change, if approved/initiated by the City Council," according to the city staff report.

The council will probably not make a decision on the rate increase Tuesday; rather, staff recommends the council to receive and file the item, as well as direct staff to return with a recommended response from the city in December.