Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin called Waste Pro’s 47 percent rate increase “shocking and staggering.” But the Palm Coast City Council this afternoon voted 4-1 to approve the one-year contract extension with the new rate, if with Alfin’s warning to the company that the rate will not be an acceptable starting point for Waste Pro’s expected bid for a five- or seven-year contract later this year.
The dissenting vote was Alfin’s, his first since he was elected mayor in a special election last July.
A Waste Pro official had been asked to justify the 47 percent increase. “A lot of it right now just has to do with the unknown,” the official said, citing fluid inflation numbers.
The answer put off Alfin. “I am not willing to have our residents charged for unknowns. I think that was an inappropriate response, and that would be a reason I voted no,” the mayor said in an interview after the meeting. “That’s unacceptable to me. We don’t do that with our utilities, when we charge our residents.” But he had other reasons to be disenchanted with the price Waste Pro was exacting from the city and its residents.
Palm Coast government finds itself in an impossible situation, needing the contract extension to allow for a more extensive bidding process. The city mishandled the first bidding round after acknowledging that the questions included in the request for proposal left too much room for misinterpretation. Two companies placed a bid, Waste Pro and FCC Environmental Services. The city recommended that FCC be awarded the contract. Lower accumulated fines for poor service had worked in FCC’s favor. Waste Pro protested, claiming FCC misrepresented its figures. The city conceded the point, but also noted that Waste Pro had done the same. So the entire nearly year-long process had to be trashed. That left Palm Coast in jeopardy of losing garbage service by June 1, the day the Waste Pro contract runs out, absent an extension with the company.
Waste Pro currently charges residential homes $20.36 a month. There’s no question the charge is somewhat low. Five years ago, the rate increased by just $1.74 a month, or 9 percent (it was $18.62). Put another way, Waste Pro’s rate has barely budged since 2011. In inflation-adjusted dollars, that 2011 rate would be $23.27 today. But the price Waste pro quoted the city initially for a one-year extension was $33.80 a month (ironically the bid price FCC Environmental had filed). The Palm Coast administration negotiated that down to $29.97, with significant concessions to Waste Pro.
The company will soon be allowed to use any kind of hauling truck it chooses, not just natural gas truck. The previously, environmentally friendly vehicles had been mandatory as per the 2017 contract. The company will see its schedule of fines for poor service cut in half. Residents will have to cut back the volume of yard waste they may put at curbside once a week from 4 to 2 cubic yards. And the recycling rewards program will be suspended the entirety of that contract extension. Yet those may well be the parameters of the request for proposal the city is preparing for a more permanent contract.
“Right now, we are held by the throat, not to use another anatomical part of my body,” Council member Eddie Branquinho said. “I think Waste Pro is partially pissed at us.” He referred to last year’s bidding process, when Waste Pro’s price returned at around $26 a month, while FCC’s came it at over $33, but still won the city administration’s acceptance. In other words, Waste Pro was punishing the city, though the City Council itself never saw the bids, never voted on them, and so never ranked one bidder over the other.
“Any possibility you could reconsider this deal and go back to the $26 that you originally had proposed?” Branquinho asked Tim Dolan, Waste Pro’s vice president of governmental affairs. He’s been running the contract since its inception with Palm Coast. He told Branquinho no, if circuitously so. He was more direct in answer rto a question from Council member Victor Barbosa. “No room to budge on this number?” Barbosa asked him.
“Not under the current circumstances. No, sir,” Dolan said.
Branquinho wanted to have some assurance that the city could extend the contract two years if necessary, and floated a suggestion that took the city administration by surprise: what if Palm Coast wanted to create its own garbage department in the next two years? There’s been no such conversations within the administration. There’s been no such discussions in any of the council’s goal-setting sessions. And the city’s extension has to stick to the one-year plan.
“If we don’t have any cooperation from Waste Pro,” Branquinho said, “I think we should start looking into creating our own sanitation department.”
“In addition to 47% there is a reduction albeit limited, in some services, is that correct?” Alfin asked. She told him there are.
“I have to ask the question,” the mayor continued, almost speaking over Trulock at that point as his impatience showed. “Regionally or throughout the state of Florida, are you aware of any other municipalities that are going to suffer an increase of this magnitude?”
“I don’t know of any that are having that much of an increase,” Trulock said. “But I want to point out to you that we’re talking about a one year extension versus a five year contract or even a seven year contract. And I do think that’s relevant to this conversation if you’ll bear with me for just a minute because these these haulers do tend to amortize the cost of their vehicles over the initial term of a contract.” She added: the only communities that might see a reduction in cost are those that would opt for one-day-a-week pick-up instead of two days, as in Palm Coast. Everybody else, she said, is seeing increases.
Barbosa took the line that the cost was “going to increase anyway,” and that the increase from Waste Pro’s bid price to the one-year extension was really just a 13 percent increase. Barbosa inexplicably claimed that that was the right figure, and repeatedly blamed the media for falsely reporting a 47 percent increase.
Alfin didn’t let him reinterpret the numbers that way. “From what we’re paying today versus what we’ll be paying tomorrow, the spread is 48 percent,” he said. “I appreciate the twist,” he added, to Barbosa’s claim that “it was going to increase anyway.”
Alfin continued: “Obviously, an increase like that is shocking and staggering, of course. We are living in exceptional or difficult times. Not just Waste Pro, but every other company on the planet pretty much.” He asked Dolan if the company wanted to work “enthusiastically” with Palm Coast. Dolan said yes, of course, given the extensive investments in equipment, vehicles, staff.
“So let me be perfectly clear on my position,” Alfin said to Dolan: “I do not expect this increased rate to be the starting point for future negotiation….don’t think for a minute that this is set.”
There was a broader reason why the mayor was pushing back against the company, he said. “It’s my understanding what happens here in Palm Coast could well be precedential for surrounding communities, other municipalities nearby and in surrounding counties, and I feel an obligation for the region.” For one, Flagler County government piggy-backs on Palm Coast’s contract, and will do so with the extension. “We collaborate to ensure that all residents enjoy a fair price for their waste removal. Sow Waste Pro has a lot at stake on our plate as well, obviously.”
Other council members were less critical or questioning, preferring instead to note the decrease in complaints about Waste Pro lately. The company has, in fact, significantly lessened the number of complaints.
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Montecristo says
Waste Pro the best example of the “Peter Principle,” and to add insult to injury I’m going to pay 47% more for bad services.
I came home to see that my recycling was not picked up.
My guess is the next bid will be mishandled as good as this was handled today!
Montecristo
Deborah Coffey says
Yes, complete incompetence on the part of the City Council. Why won’t the people of Palm Coast vote them out?!
Disgusted yet again says
So not only does Waste Pro get away with a ridiculous increase, they get away with years of bad service. Just because they have not gotten “as many” complaints recently doesn’t mean they have changed. As soon as the contract is approved, it will be business as usual and lousy service – or lack thereof. And to add insult to injury, we can now look forward to breathing in diesel fumes. What a joke.
Celia M Pugliese says
Waste Pro workers provide a perfect service in our area…and the incorrect handling of their lowest first bid is what is costing extra $9 a month and half the collection of our yard debris once a week starting June and because they were approved an extension only and not a 5 year contract as they should have to, instead of the non reassuring extension. We the majority residents happy with their services are loosing them and now paying higher for less because of the few of complainers.
Land of no turn signals says says
That’s telling them and the city will start new negotiations 3 days before this extension runs out.Hail to the cracker jacks.
TR says
This has been said before. The city of PC needs to do their own garbage pick up and get rid of Waste Pro. I have never heard of a contract extension that allows an increase in charges during the extension. The name Waste Pro fits the company 100%, the people who run the company are Pros and their service is a Waste. I guess it’s time to start burning our trash in our backyards. The city should allow the residence to opt out of having the trash picked up and then burn the trash in your back yard. I was told a few years ago that it is not against the city codes to have a bon fire in your yard. I was told this when my neighbor had on and I called and was told it was OK. The city council aught to be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. They need to get a grip and start doing what’s fair for ALL the residents of PC.
Celia M Pugliese says
We have excellent service from Waste Pro and as good as Waste Managemnet before them were. Now that increase in June is due to the fact that city council and mayor allowed the staff to unfairly try to conttact with the higher priced bid and now this is only an extension. Why did council and mayor allowed staff pick up the highest bid for us rejecting the better one less costly from Waste Pro? The goof up on the first bid is what is having us pay $9 more a month now and to me half my yard debris starting June! I begged council and mayor to ask Waste Pro if they could honor the original bid for a 5 year contract and they didn’t do it ! They only asked for the original bid fee and conditions but during this extension and of course “Waste Pro said NO under the current conditions”. Council and Mayor bad move and we pay…What is the city staff problem with the excellent service provided by Waste Pro workers as expressed by the majority of the residents? Who is the city staff that goofed up the original bid for us? If you go ask Mr Nolan if he honors his fisrt Waste Pro bid fee and conditions for a 5 year contract bet will be accepted! No shame on doing that as would be like interin manager Bevan rejected first as manager and now rethinking and naming manager! Is our council and mayor in a learning process as long as we end up with the right choice!
TR says
One more note. Maybe the city should grow a set and hold Waste Pro accountable for the full amount of fines they owe the city and not let Waste Pro control the city with their negotiations and have their fines cut in half with a contract extension with an increase in charges. If you or I happen to get a fine from the city’s code enforcement, they won’t let you negotiate it down to half. they want you to pay the full amount and if you don’t they put a lien on your property. What a bunch of two faced bastards.
Pissed in PC says
So I decided not to complain about how they’ve left trash in my can cause they were too lazy to dump it all in the truck, they dumped some of my recycling in the easement instead of getting it all in the truck and I had my yard waste in a neat pile and you still left some of it sitting on the street. Today they had the absolute nerve to put a note on my can to give them a good google review. Not happening Waste Pro! Go find other gullible suckers cause this one isn’t giving you a good rating. You don’t deserve it!
Maria Darcy says
I like to look at both sides of a problem. I also like to ask questions and review the answers. Is it possible that we ended up with a 47% increase because the former contract didn’t provide a workable compensation for Waste Pro services? Is it possible that customer service complaints were caused by unrealistic demands by customers? Did a city representative ever drive a troubled route with Waste Pro to evaluate the challenges Waste Pro was facing and being fined for? Does the city have a good understanding of what is driving costs for Waste Pro, such as fleet repair, fuel, insurance cost, employee benefits, training, labor shortages, capital expenditures? I think that understanding both sides of the problem, and having two willing parties, we can resolve this issue and build a workable relationship for the future.
Jimbo99 says
Waste collection & disposal is a necessary evil. Add unaffordable housing, add population growth, $ 3.50/gallon gasoline, the price of EV garbage trucks or whatever else the fraud of Biden-Harris is for a Green New Deal, and Waste Pro is your lowest bidder for a proposal. You have this as your choice, Pay Waste Pro or pay more to the higher bids. It’s hard to tell Waste Pro they have to provide services, when the city built a splash pad & expand a tennis center for pickleball nonsense.
Dennis says
I would expect nothing less from city fathers😖
Alonzo says
O.K. people look for leaking trucks, trash blowing down the streets as these trucks speed down the road. They can use any old trucks now, get ready to complain and get ignored. Palm Coast got slapped in the face from waste pro. What a city. Services cut prices go up, what a shame. O.K. voters we see what the Repubs, did to us. What are we going to do them? We have the power to vote them out. Will we vote them out?
Doug says
This is “your” city leaders who voted for the 47% increase based upon the “UNKNOWN.” Absolutely unbelievable with no regard for the tax paying residents. Palm Coast residents deserve that kind of representation. Probably the same reasons the residents fled the northeast.
Flatsflyer says
These $125,000 annual salaried city experts will probably get awards for doing such a great job. Never saw any where the number of pats on the back all these fools give each and that pretty much sums up the monthly, quarterly and annual awards.
Dennis C Rathsam says
This is I hope an April Fools joke…..if not the council are the fools!!!!! Waste Pro, has screwed the city of Palm Coast for the last years, bad service, means more fines…And the city has fined this 1/2 ass company more & more, so they are pissed off so they raise our premium, and cut back on yard waste! Who the hell put the gun to your head? Now we are paying more for less….What a concept!!!!! The city better get a yard waste crew ready, because cutting our piles in half just will not work. We can not forsee the amount of limbs that fall, and the mess Palm Trees leave. Instead of going forward, the city is going backward! 1st they raise our taxes, then they start a a housing developements, with hundreds of new houses. But refuse to fix the traffic through out the city. Its time to get clowns out of office, all they do is fight, call each other names, and the city suffers. We need concil members that dont have their own agenda and are using this a stepping stone, to get another cushiony job in the state, or county! I would like to see how such a raise in service is justified? How did they come up with this price? Lots & Lots of questions…..NO ANSWERS.
JoAnne says
Another example of how unaware and ignorant our “leadership” is here in Palm Coast. Do you think anyone’s paycheck is going up 47%? This is totally unacceptable. You all should be ashamed of yourselves for agreeing to this contract.
Paul Renault says
THERE IS NO REASON WHY THIS TOWN CAN HAVE THEIR OWN GARBAGE PICK UP
John Stove says
This has to be the worst run city in America……they spent more time debating the commercial parking in residential areas than on this contract!!
Whoever is in charge of the contracts/purchasing department should be fired immediately. All city contracts have a “sunset” (end of contract term) and the person at the city responsible for it should have been advising the leaders that “hey….the contract will expire next year and we need to enter into a bid or renegotiation”.
Oh they did do that but the bid process was “mishandled”?…..fire the person(s) responsible! That person(s) mistake is costing every single taxpayer in Palm Coast real money and a drop in service levels….
Keep our bill the same by taking the rate increase out of another city program budget so that the CITY FEELS THE PAIN and not the taxpayer who has any control over this!
Talk about dumb and dumber…..imbeciles
Jimmy says
All from the huge increase in building and people moving in. Its all going way up ! Taxes, utilities, all cost if living here will be doubled! It will just be like cali and new york within 3 years.
The dude says
This is what you voted for Palm Coast.
And this is what you’ll probably re-elect… again and again.
The dude says
So while liddle Eddie Danko and his cohorts in the performative right wing outrage ensemble went off on a tangent to try and secure an additional $10,000/yr from a good community partner, who BTW invested their blood sweat and tears to rebuild a city shithole and turn it into a top rated city destination, they took their liddle grievance and outraged filled eyes off the WastePro ball and directly cost the citizens $300,000 +/- a year. (presuming 31,000 households see a $10.00/mo increase)
And while the county school buses can’t run on time for more than two days in a row, and the Flagler county sheriff’s are arresting bus drivers in the middle of school bus routes, the Flagler County School Board is burning books.
The levels of incompetence people who live here crave in their “leadership” is amazing.
Celia M Pugliese says
The council and mayor should have accepted the original Waste Pro bid that by the way was the lowest bid and would have increased only about $6 a month and not reduccion on any services…But they rejected that bid and staff was ready to give contract to the other hauler that bid higher…? Now with this extension of course Waste Pro has to cover with a higher rate to recover in 12 months the cost of the new trucks they were requested to buy to serve us. They may still be in time to approve Waste Pro original bid and sign the 5 year contract that is a winner for the majority satisfied residents. Please mayor and council do it. Is like with Ms. Bevan you first rejected her as manager and now changed your mind and give her that post! Is just a learning process of trial and error…we are all humans. So please contract Waste Pro for 5 years for the original bid…and why are we wasting money on a sanitation consultant..?
Mark says
Would hope that the council and city are working immediately on gathering bids in the next 6 months, not waiting 10 months before starting. Starting with one day a week pick-up using large dedicated wheeled bins, one for waste the other for recyclables. No reason for twice weekly pick-up then.
Skibum says
Although I can only speak for myself, I have to say that over the last 9 years that I have lived in my home here in Palm Coast, I have never been dissatisfied with Waste Pro’s garbage pick-up. Oh yes, there have been the rare missed pick ups, but I moved here from out of state where we only had once a week garbage pick up, and here it is twice a week plus a yard waste day on Wednesday. It took me awhile to understand why our garbage was picked up as often as it is here, but due to the climate I have since become a believer in our garbage pick up schedule. Look… costs are going up all over due to rising inflation and our extended pandemic’s effect on the supply chain. Even with the higher garbage rate, I still think we are getting a good deal. I understand there are those who don’t share my view, and so be it. I’m not unhappy that Waste Pro got the nod for a year’s extension, and I hope they end up with the long-term renewal of their services when the city’s bid process is completed later this year because I have been a happy customer.
Valerie says
Do not let these monsters overrun the common sense of the city. Kudos to the Mayor for hard questions and tough stance. It’s time to note that there is plenty of competition out there .
Here we go again . . . . . says
Raise the rates & cut the services even more!!! They aren’t even picking up 4 yards of yard waste now in unincorporated Flagler. Is the County & Palm Coast going to establish a self-serve recycling location? If so, we taxpayers will have to pay for that too.
David Lugi says
Starting a “Palm Coast Sanitary Department “ sounds like a reasonable idea. Could be something to research. Possibly research the idea of creating our own landfill or incinerator/recycle site. It can’t hurt to look at the numbers.
Liz says
There are employees at Waste Pro that are stealing from the company. FACT! Waste Pro needs to do an internal investigation of their Palm Coast/Bunnell Office. We shouldn’t have to pay for their theft.
D says
This is outrageous, they give the worst service…Yet they’re getting rewarded! Just yesterday they threw a box I had in the recycling bin on my lawn….
December says
As I understand the County officials were voted in to take care of the cities needs, why in the world are they allowing Waste Pro to run the show, they supposedly work for us, not the other way around. The service is lousy for the most part, forget a house or entire street, spill trash on roads don’t even think about picking it up I could go on, but they get a raise, tell the County how much its going to be and which services its going cut and it’s agreed, something shall I say seems “fishy” here. Someone mentioned the County should look at starting its own pick up service, I know nothing about running such a business but its beginning to seem like a win win situation, I mean really, how bad does it need to get.
Glen says
This TOWN, and yes Town not City is full of Ass Clowns!!! They couldnt find their way out of a wet paper bag. Let’s see… I don’t put 47% more garbage out, but these Waste Pro(What a joke in the name) cant eve figure out how to put my garbage can back in nearly the same spot off to the side. Nope, I come home from work and have to get out of my truck to move it because it is in the meddle of the driveway! and now I get to pay more for it!
Can we fire all these f’ing idiots that pretend to run our county? My 8 year old daughter could smoke these fools. If it wasn’t money and friendships I would run and fix this crap….
Mary Fusco says
Wow, that is some rough stuff. When I lived up North, I would go to work and come home to a driveway that was totally blocked by snow from the snow plows that my crazy city hired. By that time, the snow was frozen. I had to climb over the mound, go to the garage and get a shovel and make myself a path to get into my driveway. On a serious note, I have been in PC for 22 years and have really had no problem with garbage pickup. Been missed a few times, just took in in and put it out for next garbage day. As a retired person on a fixed income, I am more concerned with taxes, insurances and the cost of food rather than $2 a week increase for garbage pickup.
Possession in PC says
I don’t know where you come up with $2 a week but an increase of $10 per month is hard on anyone on a fixed income. Sure the price of gas and groceries has gone up but put the blame where it belongs. Corporate greed when these companies are making higher profits since the pandemic hit. They claim an increase in the cost of items but not when they’re making billions more in profits.
Duane says
I know my comment is a little late however, I would like to know;
before the city council pushes the Waste Pro rate increase of 47% on to the customer, how much money or what percentage of the operating budget in the solid waste enterprise fund does the city have in reserve that they may be able to absorb the increase or at least a part of it.
Next, all the solid waste haulers are basically the same. Why would the city go with a higher price company? Poor performance? Isn’t that why they have fines and fees for performance failures in the contract. Maybe the answer is to to have the right person manage the contract and hold the hauler accountable.
Christopher Todd Lemke says
The burning question in my mind is how are “recycled” goods recycled. Are they recycled at all? We need to know. China recently has expressed disinterest in buying recycled plastic. We need to take a close look at how these “recycled” goods are handled. I suspect that most go to the landfill or are burned. That would be fraud.
Mark says
I know where I came from up North, a couple years ago, they diffidently recycled all recyclables. This was done at a modern sorting center that was even featured on “Modern Marvels” on The History Channel. If they’re not recycling ALL materials, especially aluminum, then there’s a major problem here. 99% of aluminum cans are made from recycled aluminum.