The Hermiston City Council approved a 7.81-percent rate increase for garbage customers during Monday night’s council meeting.
The increase will cost residential customers with 90-gallon cart service an extra $1.25 per month. The increase will take effect July 1.
Sanitary Disposal, Inc. (SDI), the private company which provides garbage service in the city, requested the rate increase in order to keep up with rising costs. The main drivers behind SDI’s cost increases are additional fees charged by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and rising labor costs.
“All of these have great effects on our company,” said Mike Jewett, president of Sanitary Disposal.
Although no SDI employees are currently paid the minimum wage, Gov. Kate Brown signed SB-1532 in to law this spring which sets an aggressive schedule to annually escalate the minimum wage in Umatilla County to $12.50 per hour by July 1, 2022. In order to continue to attract high quality employees, SDI will have to raise its payroll accordingly.
SDI last requested a rate increase in October 2012, which took effect in January 2013.
