AGENDA #10
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Options for Scheduled Yard Waste Collection
DATE: November 13, 2000
During budget discussions last year related to solid waste collection services, the Council asked for an analysis of options for providing scheduled yard waste collections. The following discussion presents costs and benefits for three service alternatives.
1. Option 1 – Status Quo Average two week unscheduled collection cycle throughout most of year) (no additional costs).
2. Option 2 – Scheduled every other week (even/odd) collection service). Add one brush collection crew (1st year cost - $108,300; 2nd year cost - $126,500).
3. Option 3 –Weekly scheduled service, day specific). Add two brush collection crews (1st year cost - $216,700; 2nd year cost – $253,100).
Key findings related to provision of yard waste collection services stress the importance of the relationship between quantities of materials placed for collection and available collection staff after residential routes are dispatched.
· If quantities stabilize, we can continue the present level of service at no extra costs.
· If quantities continue to increase, service levels likely will decline without additional resources.
· We can provide once every two weeks service with the addition of a crew, even if quantities increase somewhat.
· We can provide weekly service on a specific day, with the addition of two crews, even if the quantities increase somewhat.
Quantities of yard waste placed for collection have increased significantly over recent years. The following graph indicates a jump of more than 66% since fiscal 1997-98. We believe that Hurricane Fran, which occurred in September, 1996, helped create some portion of the yard waste increase has resulted from this. Other contributing factors might include the severe winter storms of last year and an increase in the use of private landscape services by Town residents.
While data for the first third of the current fiscal year indicate a 7.5% decline in yard waste relative to the same period last year, we believe the actual quantities have not leveled off. Rather, we were short of yard waste collection personnel in September of the current fiscal year because of injuries and vacancies and were unable to collect as much as was put out.
Currently, the Solid Waste Services Division collects yard waste on an unscheduled basis, using collectors and drivers remaining after residential crews are dispatched on weekdays, except Wednesdays. In response to the increase in workload noted above, the Council authorized two new positions in Fiscal 1999-2000 to augment available personnel for residential yard waste collection. The key variable in the distribution of residential collection staff between residential routes and yard waste collection routes is the number of personnel in attendance on any given collection day.
Based on actual availability of personnel, we generally have sufficient staff to run two or three rear-loading trucks using three-person crews on the four week days that brush normally is collected. Wednesdays typically are not scheduled for collection service. We also have a knuckle boom truck with a two-person crew available on most of the four weekly collection days to collect large piles of brush. In addition, a hook lift truck operated by one person runs a scheduled ten cubic yard dumpster service for a fee of $12 per haul.
We presently are in a transition to weekly curbside residential collection, which is to start in the later part of this fiscal year and continue in the last half of next fiscal year. By the end of the current fiscal year, we will have four fewer positions for residential service. By the end of fiscal 2000-01, we will have a total of nine fewer positions for residential service.
Our service goal for yard waste collection is a two-week cycle, which we have been able to meet over most of the year during the past several fiscal years. For example, we met the two-week service goal in ten of the twelve months of fiscal 1999-2000, or 83% of that year. However, in order to achieve this goal, we have had to increase our use of overtime within the Solid Waste Services Division, to borrow personnel from other service divisions within the department and to use outside labor to augment our collection crews.
Even with such efforts and increased costs, we occasionally fall short of the two-week service goal. For example, our service cycle during the last quarter of fiscal 1999-2000 declined to three to four weeks because of injuries and vacancies. We also exceeded prior annual expenditures for overtime in the year just ended, largely related to Wednesday and Saturday brush collection work. Overtime costs related to brush collection in fiscal 1999-2000 were $75,002, compared to $55,730 in fiscal 1998-99.
Preparation Requirements
Presently, our sanitation ordinance sets certain preparation requirements. While the following provisions are included in the Sanitation ordinance, we generally have not been strict in our enforcement practices due to weather events over the past four years, unpredictable leaf collection cycles and our desire to provide a high level of service.
Key existing preparation requirements include:
· Loose piles not to exceed three cubic yards
· Limbs, etc., to be tied in bundles not to exceed four feet in length
· No bags to be used for yard waste
· Grass clippings, loose leaves and pine straw to be placed in hard-shell containers not to exceed thirty-two gallons
Over the past several years, our practice has been to collect all yard waste and leave notices advising citizens of violations. Our attempt to establish and maintain voluntary compliance has met with limited success.
We do strictly enforce the exclusion of yard waste from garbage because of the ban established by State law. The landfill would fine us if we were to include yard waste with garbage being left at the landfill. If we were to start enforcement of the above preparation requirements and refrain from collecting from non-complying residences, then we would expect more efficient collections and accompanying reductions in lapsed time between collections.
We believe that efficient collection of yard waste, irrespective of the service level option selected from the three discussed below, will improve if we establish and maintain clear preparation requirements. Accordingly, we recommend the following requirements related to yard waste collection services regardless of whether or not resources are added to enhance the level of service.
· All yard waste would be containerized or bundled (i.e., citizens may use yard waste carts purchased from Public Works, or their own hard container no larger than 32 gallons)
· Use of plastic bags would be eliminated (bags are not allowed in the compost pile at the Orange County Landfill; opening and emptying bags at the curb greatly reduces productivity)
· Collection of loose piles would be on a fee for service basis, with the resident paying the fee either at Town Hall or at Public Works prior to collection. We expect that credit card payment over the internet ultimately would simplify the payment process.
Prior to full implementation of curbside service, and/or before any possible additional yard waste collection crews, we would prepare revisions to the Town Code that would clearly establish the above requirements and present such changes to the Council forconsideration.
The attached survey of other jurisdictions indicates that such preparation requirements are common, especially in terms of limits on the size of piles that will be collected. Several of the cities surveyed indicated that enforcement of preparation requirements is a major challenge to the effectiveness of their service delivery.
We have looked at three options related to yard waste collection, primarily in terms of the service level desired.
OPTION I: STATUS QUO (no additional personnel/equipment)
Under this option, we would continue to collect yard waste as we proceed with implementation of curbside service. There would be no additional new costs for positions or trucks with this option; however, we believe that we will have to continue to rely on overtime, borrowing from other divisions and/or use of outside labor in order to adhere to an average two-week collection cycle during times of peak workload and/or personnel shortages.
While this option has the least cost associated with it, the service level of an average two-week cycle on an unscheduled basis would not be improved.
OPTION II – Scheduled bi-weekly collection. Add one brush collection crew (1st year cost - $108,300; 2nd year cost - $126,500)
Under this option, we would add one three-person brush collection crew with a rear-loading sanitation truck. We believe that one additional crew would result in a scheduled yard waste service of once every other week (either even or odd week) per residential customer. We believe that most of the time the resident would know that his/her yard waste would be collected during a particular part of every other week.
Additional resources required for this option are summarized below.
Labor – 1st year cost: $89,000; 2nd year cost: $98,300
One added crew (1 Solid Waste Equipment Operator II and 2 Refuse Collectors) – includes benefits and assumes annual salary increase of 4.5%
Equipment – 1st year cost: $8,900; 2nd year cost: $17,900
One added rear-loading garbage truck ($82,000) acquired through fleet replacement fund, using 5% interest and payment six months in arrears
Other - $10,400 cost in each of first two years
Category includes funds for fuel ($2,400/year), fleet maintenance ($5,400/year) and uniforms/supplies for additional personnel ($2,600/year)
We have assumed that any additional costs for use of outside labor during periods of high workload and/or personnel shortages would be offset by reductions in budgeted overtime made possible by the added crew.
While this option adds annual costs to the division’s budget, it results in a higher service level in that citizens will be guaranteed yard waste collection in either an even or odd week, with a predictable time of week during most of the year.
OPTION III – Scheduled weekly collections. Add two brush collection crews (1st year cost - $216,700; 2nd year cost - $253,100)
Under this option, we would add two three-person brush collection crews with two rear-loading sanitation trucks. We believe that two additional crews would result in a scheduled yard waste service of once weekly, on a specific day, per residential customer.
Additional resources required for this option are summarized below.
Labor – 1st year cost: $178,000; 2nd year cost: $196,600
Two added crews (2 Solid Waste Equipment Operators II and 4 Refuse Collectors) – includes benefits and assumes annual salary increase of 4.5%
Equipment – 1st year cost: $17,900; 2nd year cost: $35,700
Two added rear-loading garbage trucks ($82,000 each, for total of $164,000) acquired through fleet replacement fund, using 5% interest and payment six months in arrears
Other - $20,800 cost in each of first two years
Category includes funds for fuel ($4,800/year), fleet maintenance ($10,800/year) and uniforms/supplies for new personnel ($5,200/year)
Once again, we have assumed that any additional costs for use of outside labor during periods of high workload and/or personnel shortages would be offset by reductions in budgeted overtime made possible by the added crew.
Comparison Cost Summary
Option I* Option II** Option III***
1st year cost 0 $108,300 $216,700
2nd year cost 0 $126,500 $253,100
*average two week unscheduled collection cycle (no added crews)
**scheduled every other week (even/odd) collection cycle (one additional crew)
***weekly scheduled service, day specific (two additional crews)
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Yard Waste Collection Service Fee
We propose that a fee be established to cover our costs for collecting loose piles of yard waste using the knuckle boom truck. We now collect such piles as we have the truck and labor available, at no additional cost to the resident. We do not distinguish between the resident that places such debris at the curb himself/herself and the resident that hires a private company to place such material. We plan to propose a new fee for this service based on recovery of our costs as part of the budget for fiscal 2000-2001.
We would propose retaining our current practice of issuing permits to Town residents whorequests them, allowing them to take their own yard waste to the landfill for disposal. This practice relieves us of some collection workload. (We would need to further research legal issues related to issuing such permits to private haulers working for a resident. For example, could we deny the permit to a private landscape vendor who comes to the Public Works Department office to obtain such a permit on behalf of a Town resident?)
Impact of Future Annexations
If the proposed annexation of Southern Village occurs on June 30, 2001, at 11:59 p.m., as now planned, we will have to start providing yard waste collection services to that area. The Council will choose the method of providing residential refuse collection services, including yard waste collections. The annexation services report scheduled for presentation to the Council in January, 2001, will include detailed information related to the provision of yard waste collection services and associated costs.
Yard Waste Services in Other Jurisdictions
We recently surveyed other area jurisdictions to compare levels of yard waste collection services. The attached survey results indicate a basic trend of yard waste collection being provided weekly, with all but one of the seven jurisdictions responding to the survey having this level of service. The exception is Asheville, which collects four days per week, but does not have a set schedule for citizens to know exactly which day they will receive yard waste collections. One general characteristic throughout the jurisdictions surveyed is the preparation requirements related to yard waste. Each unit of government typically limits or restricts the size of piles of yard debris that residents may place at the street for collection by public crews.
Conclusion
If the Council is interested in improvements to the level of yard waste collection services as outlined in options presented above, then we could incorporate appropriate changes to the Solid Waste Services Division’s budget request for fiscal 2000-2001.We look forward to receiving the Council’s guidance about how we should proceed.
ATTACHMENT
1. Yard Waste Services Survey Results, October, 2000 (p. 8).