December 10, 2024 |
Photo – Courtesy City of Rawlins
The Rawlins city council has voted to deny a garbage hauler’s proposed price increase.
Since 2017, the city of Rawlins has contracted with Precision Demolition to haul the city’s trash to the Casper Regional Landfill. Since that time, the Casper-based waste transport company has asked for two increases in the price per ton to take the city’s garbage.
On November 13th, Precision Demolition owner Dana Roe sent a letter to the governing body of Rawlins asking to increase the fee for a third time, from $35 to $39 a ton. Roe blamed an 11.9 percent rise in the cost-of-living over the past two years for need to raise prices at this time.
During the December 3rd meeting of the governing body, Councilwoman Tonya Lewman asked if the city can request bids from other trash haulers. City Manager Tom Sarvey said the contract with Precision Demolition doesn’t expire until December 31st of 2025. Sarvey also said the existing agreement allows the garbage hauler to request price increases at any time.
The contract with Precision Demolition began in 2017 and was set to expire in 2020. City Attorney Pinita Maberry-Nave explained that in the original agreement, the rate to haul trash from Rawlins to Casper was set at $28 per ton. Additionally, the city agreed to pay fuel costs for anything over $5 per gallon and provide an extra $100 to bring the empty trucks from Casper to Rawlins. Two years later, in 2019, Precision Demolition asked for and received a four dollar raise, increasing the price to $32 a ton. In 2020, the contract was extended until 2022.
The city attorney said in 2022, the contract with Rawlins was extended once again, this time until December 2025, and the price was raised by another three dollars per ton.
Documents provided by the city show that Precision Demolition hauls approximately 6,000 tons of municipal solid waste, tires, and manure from the Rawlins dump to the Casper landfill annually.
A four dollar increase to the per tonnage price will raise the city’s costs from roughly $210,000 to $234,000 a year. This does not include the cost of fuel, or any additional fees associated with transporting the city’s garbage to Casper.
Councilman Chris Weisenburg questioned the $100 fee paid to have the garbage hauler drive empty trucks from Casper. Known as “deadheading” in the trucking industry, Weisenburg noted that most companies do not receive that type of compensation.
In his letter to the city council, Precision Demolition owner Dana Roe said an 11.9% cost-of-living increase justified the rate increase. Councilwoman Lewman stated that the cost-of-living rose slower than what Roe suggested and questioned why the trash hauler is asking for a substantial price hike.
In his letter to the city, Precision Demolition owner Roe reminded the governing body that the previous garbage hauler charged $48 per ton. Roe wrote that, even with the proposed price increase, the city is still spending significantly less than before. Councilman Weisenburg said that he believes Precision Demolition intends to gradually increase its rates toward that $48 goal and mentioned that the trash hauler should have included automatic price increases in the original contract.
Councilman Weisenburg stated that the cost of living and the price of diesel fuel have recently begun to decrease. Additionally, he mentioned that Precision Demolition can renegotiate their contract with the city when it expires. Therefore, Weisenburg said he will vote to deny the price increase.
Mayor Terry Weickum agreed that the price of diesel fuel is decreasing and said that the contract does not require the city to approve the request. The Mayor said he opposed approving the requested rate increase.
After additional discussion, the matter was brought up for a vote. The Rawlins city council unanimously voted to deny Precision Demolition’s proposed $4 per ton increase to haul garbage from Rawlins to the Casper Regional Landfill.
