Altadena Garbage Contract Approved
The contract will lock in Altadena residents with Athens Service as their provider
By Dan Abendschein and Justin Chapman, Altadena Patch, 5/17/2011
The county Board of Supervisors approved a garbage contract for Altadena residents on Tuesday that will make Athens Service the sole franchise for Altadena at a monthly charge of $18.06 per household for basic services.The contract was listed on the agenda on Tuesday and Town Council Chair Gino Sund said Tuesday night he had received word that it had been approved, and a spokesman for Supervisor Michael Antonovich confirmed it Wednesday. Sund said he expects the contract will start some time in September.
Currently, Altadena is serviced by various private providers with different rate structures, but the Athens contract would force residents to get their service through the company.
Initially, county officials had withheld the terms of the new contract, but revealed the details after an Altadena Patch public records request.
The $18.06 monthly service charge will cover once a week automated trash collection and recycling service with each customer receiving one 96 gallon refuse container, up to two 96 gallon green waste containers, up to two 96 gallon recyclable containers, and a 64 gallon manure container. The second containers and the manure containers are available only by request, but don't raise the price of service.
Additional 96 gallon containers beyond that go for $5 each and additional manure ones for $10. Customers will be billed through the mail on a quarterly basis, and there is a 25 percent senior discount. Homes on streets that are difficult to access could cost $22.57 per month.
Annual rate increases would be done by a formula that is heavily dependent on the Southern California portion consumer price index (CPI) that is used to measure cost of living increases. There could also be an increase depending on the cost of diesel and on the fees charged by the waste facilities that Athens used (the formula that would be used can be viewed at right).
The terms of when there would be an increase were set by county officials when they put out a request for proposal for the contract.
The contract would run for seven years with county officials having the option of extending the contract on the same terms for three additional years.
Additional 96 gallon containers beyond that go for $5 each and additional manure ones for $10. Customers will be billed through the mail on a quarterly basis, and there is a 25 percent senior discount. Homes on streets that are difficult to access could cost $22.57 per month.
Annual rate increases would be done by a formula that is heavily dependent on the Southern California portion consumer price index (CPI) that is used to measure cost of living increases. There could also be an increase depending on the cost of diesel and on the fees charged by the waste facilities that Athens used (the formula that would be used can be viewed at right).
The terms of when there would be an increase were set by county officials when they put out a request for proposal for the contract.
The contract would run for seven years with county officials having the option of extending the contract on the same terms for three additional years.
Other features of the new trash contract will include:
- Three on-call bulky item collections per year in unlimited quantities, including certain electronic device
- Collection of excess green waste that is bagged and bundled ten times a year
- Semi-annual electronic waste and clothing drop-off events
- An annual curbside cleanup event in unlimited quantities, and free container roll-out services for qualified customers.