Garbage collection to cost 10% more in Spokane in 2024, but city officials don’t expect sticker shock

Spokane residents are going to pay significantly more to have their garbage and recycling collected in 2024 – but city officials say overall utility costs for local households won’t increase too sharply yet.

For the last decade, Spokane residents have had the cost for their city utilities, including water, stormwater, solid waste and others, each increase by about 2.9% each year. Next year, costs for solid waste collection – garbage, recycling and compost – are going to increase nearly 10%, but other city utilities won’t increase a cent.

“We decided to forgo increases in water, wastewater, etc. so the average customer would see the same overall 2.9% increase they’ve gotten used to during the last decade,” said Public Works Director Marlene Feist. “Our citizens make less than people in other places, so we’re very careful to try to make sure our utility rates are affordable.”

The rate increase was needed because the cost of providing solid waste services has skyrocketed in recent years and more quickly than providing other services, Feist said, largely due to increased costs for labor and a 63% increase in diesel prices, among other aspects of the business.

“All of these things have come together to where we needed to make a correction,” Feist said. “When we adopted the rates in 2020, we kept with the 2.9% increases for the last decade, but we highlighted these inflationary pressures coming down the road. In 2021, inflation went crazy.”

Utility fees cannot be spent flexibly; largely, the bills residents pay for solid waste can only be spent by the city to provide that service and cannot be diverted to provide another utility such as stormwater or service such as police. So, while the average cost increase to city customers isn’t expected to surge next year, the revenue specifically paying for the city’s solid waste division will increase enough to help pay for those quickly rising costs.

While city officials don’t expect residents to have much sticker shock in 2024, overall cost increases are almost certainly coming in 2025, Feist added.

“We’re going to have a closer look and see what we’re doing,” she said. “While we were quite successful with 2.9% increases for a decade, the inflationary period we’ve been in for the last two years has to be accounted for in some way.”

“2.9% isn’t keeping up with our costs,” she added.

It won’t be determined just how large a cost increase will be needed until sometime next year, however, Feist noted.