What's at stake?
For the first time since 2009, households in the City of Fresno can expect to see their monthly solid waste fees increase. The fee increase was necessary to keep current services running, after multiple failed attempts to raise them in the past led the department of public utilities to exhaust their financial reserves — which subsidized the department in the interim.
The rate hike is expected to be made official during next week’s city council meeting on June 27.
Some city residents could soon spend more monthly on their garbage bills.
A protest vote on a proposed annual rate hike in the monthly solid waste fees until the 2029 failed to get enough support last week.
Brock Buche, director of Fresno’s Department of Public Utilities, said this was the first time the city has raised fees on solid waste since 2009. Rising costs were cited as the need for a rate hike.
The proposed rate change would gradually increase the monthly rates annually until the 2029 fiscal year. The current standard service rate would eventually increase from $25.37 to $45.24 — a 78% increase. The city’s alternate service rate, which is offered to residents who opt to downsize their gray waste cart from 94 to 64 gallons, would be raised from $19.20 to $41.21 — an increase of about 115%.
The hearing came the same day council approved its $2 billion budget for the next fiscal year, an arduous process that saw the city make difficult decisions to avoid a deficit.
“Now, after the pandemic when we’re facing inflation, we’re facing a tough choice,” Councilmember Mike Karbassi said.
The city’s presentation showed expenses consistently outpacing revenue for solid waste since 2012, with financial reserves used to help keep day-to-day operations running.
Among the services that could have been lost would be the free dump and free shred days that the city hosts — which allow city residents venues to dump large items and shred documents free of charge.
Also, although law demands the city pick up regular waste every week, the frequency of recycled and green waste can be changed, according to Buche. He said the frequency of green and recycled waste could go down to bi-weekly or even monthly if rates were not raised.
The reduced rates of service could also lead to a loss of workers’ hours and possibly furloughs.
In an effort to stay compliant with Prop 218, the city also accepted protest votes from local residents — one vote per parcel unit — to prevent the rate hike. Votes were taken until the end of the hearing.
Fresno City Clerk Todd Sterner announced that the city must receive 58,480 protest votes to reject the rate hike. Only about 34,900 were received by the end of the hearing.
The council is expected to finalize approval of the rate hike during next week’s council hearing.
City holds hearings on a pair of housing projects
On Thursday, the City Council also unanimously approved funding for a new affordable housing project and amended the agreement for a previously approved development.
The council approved a $5 million contribution toward a new mixed-income and mixed-use affordable housing development in the Roosevelt High area, on the south side of Ventura Avenue between 7th and 8th Street. The development will be 54-units made to serve the farm labor community.
The project’s developer is Los Angeles-based Integrated Community Development, with the Corporation For Better Housing acting as a non-profit partner. The developer has two other recent affordable housing projects in Fresno – one on Blackstone and McKinley that opened in 2023, another under construction on Blackstone and Clinton Avenues.
“I think it’s pretty fitting that the focus be on farmworker housing, especially in that area, considering that the street will have the name of Cesar Chavez,” said Councilmember Luis Chavez — whose district will house the development.
However, the city’s funding is contingent on Integrated Community Development getting the full financing from the United States Department of Agriculture during their July round of funding.
The city also agreed to amend a previous agreement with the Fresno Housing Authority for Heritage Estates — a southwest Fresno development of 33 single-family houses.
Council follows up on city’s animal breeding angst
Fresno City Council unanimously passed a moratorium on the issuance of new, unaltered dog licenses and increased the fines for violations, effective immediately. The resolution also directs the city manager to develop a city-wide program to prevent unauthorized breeding.
“This item today provides some immediate, interim, solutions, but it gives us some time to further develop this program to make sure we get it right the first time,” said Council President Annalisa Perea.
Unaltered dog licenses allow owners to get an exemption from spaying or neutering their pets, as required by city code.
This resolution is a continuation of last week’s council meeting, where the vote was delayed to give the city more time to come up with harsher penalties for illegal dog breeders.
“Administrative fees for violation of this resolution shall be assessed at $1,000.00 per dog. Each and every day a violation exists constitutes a separate and distinct offense,” reads the updated resolution.
“This is going to continue to evolve,” said Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, who cosponsored the resolution along with Perea. “The penalties we’ve implemented I think are pretty serious and, as I said, this is just the beginning as we continue, all of us, to work together to help reduce the population of animals.”
New rules on signs and the public comment period
Though there was no discussion of it during the meeting, the Fresno City Council also passed a resolution to amend its rules regarding public comment and signs inside the council chambers. The resolution was sponsored by councilmembers Arias, Bredefeld and Nelson Esparza.
The amendments now say that members of the audience holding signs that are 8.5 x 11 — or, about the size of standard printer paper — can sit anywhere as long as they keep the sign on their laps, and do not raise it. Members of the audience holding signage bigger than that must either sit in the last row of seats, line up along the back wall of the council chambers or be on the balcony.
Perea told Fresnoland through text, “The new rules, brought forward by some of my colleagues, was to find a solution to allowing signs in the council chambers without them serving as visual obstruction to others who take time to attend meetings.”
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the outcome of the trash rate hearing. The story has been corrected.
