The Jefferson County Commission on Feb. 4 agreed to consider increasing the annual solid waste fee by $20 to $149.69. A public hearing on the matter is expected to be held later this month.
Brian Hohn, manager of the county’s solid waste department, said $15.58 of the increase would be applied to the $800,000 loan the county incurred for upgrading the Montana City solid waste facility and the required 10% reserve on the loan.
The rest would help pay district-wide operation and maintenance costs, he said.
Commissioner Cory Kirsch said the final rate increase will be determined at the public hearing.
“We were required to adjust the rate before we applied for the loan to prove we had the revenue to service the loan,” he said.
Hohn estimated the variable financing rate would start around 4%.
At the Feb. 6 Boulder Transition Advisory Committee meeting, Kirsch said the fee hasn’t increased in roughly 20 years and that he hopes the commissioners can revisit the fee in 15 years and “hopefully decrease it.”
