CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- While a consultant agrees with the recommendation of the citys Refuse and Recycling Task Force to switch to automated pickup, their respective proposed rate structures differ significantly.

Early this year, the task force recommended raising the monthly rate by about $3, from the current $11.50 to a ballpark figure of $14.50.

But further analysis by Stow-based consultant GT Environmental has put that figure in the range of $18 to $21.50 per month -- and going up at least $1 a month from there after the third year, although these amounts could be reduced once a route optimization study is conducted.

Completed studies so far show that the city received about $1.85 million from a total of 14,531 households billed at the current rate. However, it cost the city over $2.7 million to collect 18,176 tons of trash and 2,542 tons of recyclables.

This required a city subsidy of nearly $886,000 to cover the remaining cost. GT Environmental consultant Jim Skora noted that 16 percent of the citys sanitation customers didnt pay their bills last year.

One of the problems with collection is that Cleveland Heights can no longer threaten deadbeat customers with a water shut-off notice, since the ailing system has been taken over in recent years by the City of Cleveland.

And Cleveland Heights sanitation fleet may be in even worse shape than the water system was.

Part of the (cost) issue now is that the condition of the fleet has decayed to the point that we are losing more trash throughout the routes because our trucks are falling apart, City Manager Tanisha Briley said during the July 13 presentation to City Councils Municipal Services Committee.

Briley has recommended a dedicated funding source to adequately replace equipment.

"We're spending more to go to another transfer station because our equipment is down," Briley added, noting that sanitation is budgeted out of the General Fund, rather than as an "Enterprise Account."

One unique feature that Cleveland Heights has working in its favor is its own transfer station at the City Public Works Department, which "evolved from a solid waste incinerator from back in the day," Skora noted.

Skora and GT Environmental are recommending about $452,000 in transfer station upgrades, which is a relatively cheap fix in the context of over $2 million to buy four automated garbage packers and two recycling trucks.

There are also the capital needs costs of buying 14,531 trash carts ($51 apiece) and recycling containers ($47 each), along with three new semi-trucks at over $100,000 apiece -- as well as at least two $67,000 steel transfer trailers.

It all leads to a projected cost in the first year of about $3.9 million, although consultants see that cost leveling out in future years, especially a funding source that would allow for borrowing to cover long-term capital expenses.

Given the current state of recycling, the city will be paying more for the processing of recyclables, although automation could also drive that cost down. At the same time, automation tends to improve collection numbers for recyclables, which have been on a downward trend.

Skora said it would only cost the city about $69 per recyclable ton collected through single-stream automated recycling, rather than the projected $95 a ton to sort through the "blue bags" that many residents leave on their tree lawns every week.

Increased efficiency with the fleet could also mean fewer truck trips to the landfill and recycling plants -- as many as seven or eight trips per day right now.

And any city that goes to automated needs to re-evaluate its bulk-pickup policies, Skora said, recommending fewer opportunities than the weekly pickups that were allowed before the coronavirus pandemic shut bulk pickup down completely.

Skora also noted that Cleveland Heights offers a "homestead rate" of only $3 per month for qualifying residents. While GT Environmental is proposing a substantial increase in that fee, Skora said it would still remain $8.50 less than the average rate, as it currently stands.

There are also preliminary plans to take the current sanitation staffing down from 27 to 24 employees, although the current collection system provides efficiency that impressed GT Environmental.

"You have a trash program that's almost unheard of in the public sector, using a manual collection system with one person on a truck," Skora said. "I don't think I've ever seen that, except in the private sector."

Skora added that most cities will have two people and sometimes three on a garbage truck, and one or two on a recycling truck.

"You have one on trash and one on recycling -- which is like automated collection from a staffing standpoint," Skora added.

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Cleveland Heights consultant says rate structure projections should be higher for switch to automated trash, - cleveland.com