WUTC approves drop in curbside pickup rates

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) has approved a tariff revision that will result in a small drop in garbage rates in Point Roberts.

The tariff revision comes out of the second of two compliance filings Freedom 2000 LLC, doing business as Cando Recycling and Disposal, was required to submit in the wake of Whatcom County’s adoption of an ordinance establishing mandatory garbage and recycling collection in 2018. The compliance filings were required to allow adequate analysis of revenue streams under the new system and ensure rates were equitable to both the company and consumers.

The company’s first filing in 2019, based on six months of financial data, resulted in no change to rates, but WUTC analysts did note garbage rates might be too high while recycling rates were too low, regulatory analyst Greg Hammond told WUTC commissioners at their October 29 meeting. “This filing uses 12 months of data and would correct the discrepancy between garbage and recycling rates,” he said.

In its August 27 compliance filing, based on a full year of financial data, Cando had proposed almost doubling monthly recycling rates from $5.28 to $9.14 for every-other-week pickup and decreasing baseline garbage pickup rates from $11.68 to $8.37. The proposed changes were based on a decrease in garbage disposal costs for the company and a revenue deficiency in their recycling operation. Overall, they would have represented a 56 cent per month increase to residential customers but a projected revenue decrease to the company of approximately $23,000.

WUTC staff reviewed the company’s financial workbook and found “the proposed rates would result in excess revenue” and made corrections to payroll and depreciation expenses that “had been double counted.”

The company agreed to a revision in the proposed rate change which would see an overall revenue decrease of $46,000 and a rate decrease to residential customers of 43 cents per month. On October 21 it filed revised tariff pages to that effect.

In their review of the Cando compliance filing, WUTC staff also looked at the effects of Covid-19. They found that from March 2020, when the U.S./Canada border was closed to non-essential travel, until June, the amount of residential garbage being collected dropped 14 percent, while recycling dropped 13 percent. This had little impact on the company’s revenues as residential garbage customers are billed annually through the property tax rolls. Any significant decreases in revenue and expenses came from a drop in commercial pickups during that period.

“Because a general rate case results in a true-up of revenues and expenses, any costs savings incurred by the company over this period would be passed back to customers in this rate filing,” WUTC staff wrote in their recommendation.

Staff reported receiving 20 consumer comments after Cando notified their customers of the proposed rate increase on October 14, mostly questioning how a rate increase could be justified when the border was closed.

“Rates are based on the company’s expenses, and the service levels set by Whatcom County,” staff wrote in their response. “Comments about service levels should be directed to the county.”

During the October 29 meeting, commissioners heard from Allison Calder and Louise Cassidy who brought up the issue of solid waste tax dollars collected by the company that they believe were not remitted to the county and asked the commission to address the issue.

Jeff Hegedus from the Whatcom County Health Department explained that previously the county had charged a flat rate per ton in solid waste excise tax to all county garbage haulers who then translated that into a percentage tax added to consumer bills since they could not weigh the actual garbage being picked up from each curbside account. The county moved to a percentage of invoice solid waste tax system in 2020.

“We believe this is an old issue,” Hegedus said.

Sally Brown, senior assistant attorney general and counsel to the commission said, “Taxation issues such as this should be brought up locally,” recommending the county or perhaps the state department of revenue, not the WUTC, would be the appropriate agencies to deal with the overassessment of the solid waste excise tax.

Commissioners nevertheless encouraged parties to pursue a resolution that was equitable. “If there were more taxes collected from customers than was paid to the county, what happened to that money and what will happen to that money?” asked commissioner Jay Balasbas. “I would hope that the county will ensure the right amount of taxes were collected.”