Paul Molinelli, executive director of Amador ACES Waste Services, addresses the Amador County Board of Supervisors Tuesday regarding the rising cost of fuel and its affect on waste disposal services.

Photo by: Bethany A. Monk

Even the price of garbage is going up.

The Amador County Board of Supervisors approved a 16.8 percent rate increase request from Amador ACES Waste Services Tuesday for garbage collection in franchise area 2, which includes the Lake Camanche area and other incorporated townships surrounding the city of Ione. An ad hoc rate adjustment committee worked together on methods for analyzing rate increases, county Public Works Director Larry Peterson told the board during the meeting.

"We are having a hard time, too, with the cost (of fuel)," Forster, board chair, said during Tuesday's meeting. "Haulers should eat some of that too and only ask for a 50 percent increase."

The draft rate adjustment methodology includes a sliding scale for profitability, or an operating ration, of 85 to 90 percent, the memorandum states. "The OR, when applied to expenses allowed to have profit, called 'allowable expenses,' produces a profit range of 11.1 to 17.6 percent."

"We want them to make a reasonable profit," Peterson said of ACES. "If we start asking them to take less and less for what they do," service and viability of equipment may be affected. "It's true everyone is affected by the economy," he added. "(However), the individual has the option of cutting on gas and not driving as much. Haulers don't have that choice."

"Everybody is affected by this," said Paul Molinelli, executive director of ACES Waste Services, referring to the economy. "We are conscious of raising rates and how it affects people. ... It scares us. We prefer not to do it." ACES has spent $119,000 in fuel over the past 18 months, he said. "Something has to be done," Molinelli added. "I've thought of parking our trucks in protest like they do in Europe," he joked.

After Forster asked whether a bi-weekly garbage pick-up would further help decrease fuel costs, Molinelli said that a county and state ordinance requires garbage to be picked up every seven days. "We could implement senior discount, but somebody's going to have to pay for that," Molinelli added.

Following the item's discussion, the board approved the rate increase request from ACES, with District 3 Supervisor Ted Novelli abstaining because he was a past ACES employee. Also approved Tuesday was an Amador Disposal Services' 8.9 percent gate fee and a 1.5 percent surcharge for franchise area 1.

"From May 2007 to May 2008, our cost of fuel has gone up 50 percent," said Jason Craft, district manager for Waste Connections Inc., which owns Amador Disposal Services. Garbage pick-up rates have increased about 6 percent in both Sutter Creek and Amador City, Craft said, adding that Amador Disposal Services will continue to make rate increase requests to the other city councils throughout the county. This is the first garbage rate increase the unincorporated areas of the county has seen since 2005, he said, adding that it's why the increase surpasses the cities' increases.