San Mateo County Grand Jury
• 2006-2007
Issue | Background | Findings | Conclusions | Recommendations | Responses | Attachments Summary of City of Millbrae
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 4 findings
F1
Millbrae’s residential garbage rate for a 32-gallon can is $20.97 per month. The average rate for the agencies surveyed is $16.54 (excluding Atherton and Hillsborough where side yard pick-up is provided and East Palo Alto where 96 gallon containers are used). Appendix A summarizes rates in the communities surveyed.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Grand Jury recommends that the Millbrae City Council:
Evaluate the potential benefits of joining the South Bayside Waste Management Authority when the current Franchise Agreement with South San Francisco Scavenger Company, Inc. expires in February 2009.
F2
The Millbrae contract specifies that all debris box service in Millbrae must be provided by Scavengers. The cities of South San Francisco, Brisbane, San Bruno, Pacifica, Moss Beach, El Granada and Montara have similar contract provisions with their waste hauling contractors.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Grand Jury recommends that the Millbrae City Council:
Consider instructing the City Manager to conduct a competitive bidding process for future garbage franchise agreements, should the Millbrae City Council elect not to join the South Bayside Waste Management Authority.
F3
Millbrae debris box rate for a seven-day rental of a 14-yard box is $449.99; the average seven-day rental cost of 14 to 16-yard debris boxes in other cities with an exclusive contract is $414.26. The corresponding average rate from other providers in cities in the County without exclusive contracts is $342.50 (see Appendix B).
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Grand Jury recommends that the Millbrae City Council:
Evaluate whether or not an exclusive franchise for debris box services best serves the interests of the community. 4
F4
The relationship between Scavengers and Millbrae has at times been contentious and there have been conflicts related to rate schedules and Scavengers’ compensation. Efforts have been made to resolve these conflicts in the current contract extension. Conclusions Cities with little or no commercial/industrial development tend to have higher residential garbage rates, as evident when looking at the highest rates in the County, e.g., Pacifica, Atherton, Hillsborough and Belmont. Debris box service is also higher in cities with few commercial accounts, e.g., Pacifica, Moss Beach and Millbrae. It should also be noted that cities with franchised (exclusive) debris box agreements tend to have higher debris box rates, as well. Using commercial and debris box rates to “subsidize” residential rates seems to be a common industry practice. Millbrae adopted a market basket formula in 1996 abandoning its “cost plus” system. While there is some disagreement about which rate system is best for all concerned, both systems are commonly used in the industry. The market basket approach to setting garbage rates is used by a minority of agencies in the County, but does not appear to be an unreasonable practice in itself. Millbrae’s monthly residential garbage rates are about four dollars higher than the average of agencies sampled, but this is not necessarily unreasonable, given the system used to set the rates and the ratio of commercial to residential accounts. 3
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
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CL1 Page 3Cities with little or no commercial/industrial development tend to have higher residential garbage rates, as evident when looking at the highest rates in the County, e.g., Pacifica, Atherton, Hillsborough and Belmont. Debris box service is also higher in cities with few commercial accounts, e.g., Pacifica, Moss Beach and Millbrae. It should also be noted that cities with franchised (exclusive) debris box agreements tend to have higher debris box rates, as well. Using commercial and debris box rates to “subsidize” residential rates seems to be a common industry practice. Millbrae adopted a market basket formula in 1996 abandoning its “cost plus” system. While there is some disagreement about which rate system is best for all concerned, both systems are commonly used in the industry. The market basket approach to setting garbage rates is used by a minority of agencies in the County, but does not appear to be an unreasonable practice in itself. Millbrae’s monthly residential garbage rates are about four dollars higher than the average of agencies sampled, but this is not necessarily unreasonable, given the system used to set the rates and the ratio of commercial to residential accounts. 3
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Millbrae
City