ISHPEMING — The city of Ishpeming held its monthly city council meeting on Wednesday evening and discussed the possibility of increasing garbage fees in the city.

With the landfill fees increasing, the council pondered the idea of increasing garbage collection fees to combat the rising landfill costs.

“Our costs to dispose of residential waste at the county are going up from $71 to $87 a ton, so that’s a fairly substantial increase,” said city finance director Grant Getschow. “In order to respond to that external increase, which the city had no choice in, we are probably going to need to raise rates.”

Getschow’s recommendation to the board was to raise the monthly garbage fees from $21.90 to $24.75, which would be enough to cover disposal costs with the county and create a modest buffer amount for the city.

“We obviously don’t want to create a large buffer that’s unnecessary, but I think a small amount (is OK.) So my recommendation on this is to raise the fees, given the increase in county costs, from $21.90 to $24.75 and that will allow us a modest buffer,” explained Getschow.

The raise would be monthly per residential equivalent unit, meaning that if you’re a single family home, $24.75 is what you would be charged for your garbage bill. Getschow mentioned that this raise across the city of Ishpeming would help the city raise around $76,000 annually to cover the tipping fees with the county landfill, while having an approximate $8,000 buffer.

“We are able to get recycle bins for free, but the garbage bins we have to pay for. We got a rough estimate, just trying to do some numbers, (that would be) about $180,000 to $190,000,” said city manager Randy Scholz. “That’s one of the reasons we want to have a little buffer in there. We feel like we can pay for that through this fund, and then roll that out as part of the budget process.”

Ishpeming City Mayor Pat Scanlon said that the city no longer has a partnership with the Marquette County Waste Area Landfill, and noted that they have the authority to raise prices on the city.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow, but we have to take it,” said Scanlon. “One thing I would like for us to look into is when we go to the recycle bins, hopefully our tipping fees will go down because we’ll recycle more…”

“Probably the most effective way to lower your landfill tonnage is to push the state-leading curbside compost pickup program that we are helping get off the ground,” advised Getschow. “We are a pass through entity for Patridge Creek Compost right now in there, and I think the majority of the residential waste that we’re sending to the landfill is likely food waste. I think that’s (true for) most communities, (so) I’m assuming we’d be no different.”

Getschow recommended that for those who are interested in helping the city with landfill tonnage and the environment at the same time, they could look into residential compost pickup through Partridge Creek Compost. PCC can be contacted at 906-422-0012 or sales@partridgecreekcompost.org. Its physical address is located at 200 Washington St.

“If you take the recycling out and you take all the food waste out, tipping fees are going to go down. When that happens, that allows us to have some freedom to not raise prices like we’re doing with the water right now,” added Scanlon.

The motion to raise the garbage fees from $21.90 to $24.75 per month passed in the city council. More information can be found on the city’s website at ishpemingcity.org.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.