Note: This story was updated the day after publication to confirm that the City Council ultimately approved the 10% rate increase for city residents during the August 13th meeting.
Prineville, Ore. – A previously rejected proposal by Prineville’s exclusive solid waste provider to increase rates is being pushed again for Council approval, according to an agenda packet for the City Council’s August 13th meeting. A prepared resolution approving the proposed 10% rate increase appeared in the agenda packet.
Minutes from the June 25th City Council meeting revealed Republic proposed a 14% rate increase, which was countered by the Solid Waste Committee for 10%. According to the minutes, Republic accepted this counter offer, but the motion did not pass. The proposed rate increase still sits at 10%.
It comes at a time that other utilities and services providers in Oregon, namely electric, are facing increasing public scrutiny over proposed double-digit rate increases over a single year.
Pacific Power, who services the City of Prineville, filed for a 17.9% rate increase in February with State officials. It then later revised this request to 11.9%. In response to the efforts by numerous utilities, the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board recently proposed a rate cap on increases that would limit utilities’ energy rates to no more than 10% or 7% plus inflation, whichever is the lowest.
The minutes revealed that discussions questioning the rate increases, both proposed by Republic at 14% and the countered 10%, all why Crook County passed a 8% rate increase. “Mr. Forrester stated that the operations between the County and City are very different,” the minutes read.
Further discussions among the council members took place, including regarding tipping fees and newer equipment. They also discussed if there were other companies that could service the city while speaking about general service concerns that had been previously brought to the council’s attention.
“Councilor Hutchison added that until we see how the changes in service requested works out and sees how it could go with a person in the Prineville office, she cannot support a request for an increase. When they (Republic) first took over, they said they wouldn’t change how things were operating and it didn’t take anytime at all to change everything,” according to the meeting’s minutes.
The resolution calling for even the 10% rate increase was defeated after Councilor Uffelman made a motion to approve a resolution but received no second from another council member.
The newly proposed resolution for tonight’s council meeting appears unchanged from the previous resolution’s 10%. However, the City is set to hear testimony this evening from Republic Services’ Municipal Manager for Central Oregon, Courtney Voss.
Jeremy Walter’s, an manager of external communications for Republic Services responded shortly after initial publication by email providing a statement from Voss.
“The rate request is reflective of five months of discussion between Republic Services and the City of Prineville. The requested adjustment has been carefully calculated to cover the increased cost of providing service. We look forward to discussing the rate and answering any final questions Council may have,” said Voss.
Forrester spoke as well shortly after publication and clarified the City was not necessarily pushing for approval of the rate increase, but was working to address a number of concerns related to changes and service metrics that had come to the attention of staff as well as the City Council.
“We have received what I would call a significant amount of input from our community, both to city staff and the council related to the services,” said Forrester.
“I think we have a good feeling on the community’s feelings on the matter.”
One of the previously addressed concerns with Republic was related to the community reaching a live person to discuss service related issues. Forrester explained that people in Prineville were more traditional and desired the ability to reach a real person, and this was one of the early impacts after Republic Services had acquired Prineville Disposal back in 2020.
Prineville Disposal had been family owned for 43 years.
The City Council ultimately voted during its August 13th meeting approving a resolution for the 10% rate increase for city residents. The resolution passed 4 to 2, with council members Shane Howard and Janet Hutchison voting against. Councilor Marv Sumner was absent from the vote.
