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Elgin utility customers will see a modest increase in trash rates next year under an improved waste contract that officials said has served the city well for seven years.
City Council voted unanimously Aug. 5 to extend its contract with Waste Management of Texas Inc. for three more years, with an option to add two additional years. The agreement, set to replace the current contract expiring in September, includes a 5% rate increase in the first year — about $1.20 more per month for residential customers — city staff said.
“For commercial customers, it’s going to be based on their dumpster size and the frequency that they have those dumpsters serviced,” Utility Billing Supervisor Dodie Navejas said. “So, it’s kind of hard to see what those rates are going to do.”
In years two and three, any additional increases will be tied to the Consumer Price Index and capped at 5%, a change Interim City Manager Isaac Turner told the council gives Elgin control. Navejas said that in the past three years, the CPI has fluctuated between 4.35% and 5.83%, according to Waste Management data.
“They will have to come and make a case and justify it before the council,” Turner said. “It’s not automatic.”
The decision maintains the city’s relationship with a service provider whose drivers know local streets and customers well, according to Navejas.
“Our residential driver has been serving Elgin for over 16 years — he knows the alleys, he knows the customers who need a little extra help,” she said. “That familiarity makes a huge difference in the service our residents receive.”
According to Navejas, Elgin collects about 200 tons of trash each month within city limits, offering weekly curbside pickup, biweekly recycling and quarterly bulk collection. She added that about 100 residential trash carts are replaced each month at no charge.
Public comment before the council’s vote included concerns about locking in rate increases without exploring other cost-saving measures.
Stacy Savage, a Bastrop County resident and founder of Zero Waste Strategies, told the council that other Texas cities have saved money by reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills. She cited measures such as composting, electronics recycling, household hazardous waste collection and commercial waste prevention programs.
“Over 60% of what we landfill could actually be diverted,” Savage said, citing data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “That saves space in our landfills, lowers our hauling costs, and it even generates revenue from recyclables and organic material.”
Savage also noted that some cities have cut costs by up to 30% through competitive bidding or re-evaluating their service models. She urged the city to consider similar strategies before committing to long-term rate hikes.
The contract extension also adds commercial recycling for the first time, a change that will apply to downtown apartments classified as commercial accounts, according to Navejas.
A Waste Management representative told the council that Elgin’s recycling now goes to the company’s $77 million facility in New Braunfels. The “state-of-the-art” site uses 16 optical sensors with artificial intelligence to improve sorting and increase the value of recovered materials.
