New trash service contract will increase customer prices

BOSQUE FARMS — A new contract for trash services in the village of Bosque Farms will increase monthly fees, but the provider is confident some customers will actually see a reduction in costs due to discount programs.

At the Aug. 21 meeting of Bosque Farms Village Council, the council approved a 10-year contract with Universal Waste Systems for residential and commercial trash services in the village, as well on-call roll-off containers, on a 2-0 vote. The new contract and rates started on Sept. 1.

Councilor Tim Baughman made a motion to approve the new contract, with a second from Councilor Ronita Wood. Baughman and Erica De Smet voted in favor, while Wood recused herself, saying her husband, local contractor Spencer Wood, had “built a house for one of (UWS’s) top people, so I shouldn’t vote.” Councilor Michael Cheromiah was not at the meeting.

Download PDF

Baughman asked if there would be an increase to fees under the new contract, Rheganne Vaughn, who oversees governmental affairs and contract compliance for UWS, said the fee increases were “just the annual (consumer price index) in the old and new contract. With some of the new discounts programs, some (customers) will see a reduction in their monthly and quarterly bill.”

The consumer price index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a variety of consumer goods and services, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

Matt Blackburn, UWS vice president said, “historically, trash rates have been relatively low. People may not agree. We try to do this in a phased-in approach and have discounts so customers are not as impacted.”

He said there is a standard annual CPI of about 5 percent, or 86 cents per house. Applied to the base rate UWS inherited in 2022, the monthly rate for residential trash service in the village without any discounts would have been about $16.60 this year.

“The increase we’re proposing, each year after that CPI plus $1 increase, is to bring the village up to neighboring communities,” Blackburn said. “You guys are by far the lowest.”

When AC Disposal, a Belen company, sold the trash hauling part of its business to UWS in 2022, Universal committed to honoring the price established in AC’s contract with the village, which was $14.25 per month for residential service, until the end of the contract period in 2025.

Since then, the company has applied annual CPI increases from the garbage and trash collection sub-index, but not raised the base rate for services in the village.

Download PDF

With the new contract, residential service will be $17.10 a month for one 96-gallon polycart, billed quarterly.

UWS offers four discount programs to village customers, two of which are income based.

Residents can qualify for either a 10 or 15 percent discount if they have a documented income that doesn’t exceed 133 or 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines as published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services every year, respectively.

Senior citizens older than 65 and veterans are eligible for 10 percent discounts.

The 15 percent income-based discount will lower the cost to $14.53 and the 10 percent discounts to $15.39 a month. An additional cart is $6 a month.

“What this means is that as we move forward into 2025-26, those who qualify pay less than what they are paying now,” Vaughn said. “We are excited to offer this to the community.”

New commercial fees range from $17.10 a month for a 96-gallon polycart up to $189.69 for an 8-yard roll-off container. On-call roll-off containers start at $380 for a 10-yard container and go up to $500 for a 40-yard container.

Future price increases for a residential base cart from 2026 to 2028 are $1 plus the CPI, with the full CPI applied to each additional polycart. In 2029, rates will be adjusted according to the full CPI. Commercial accounts and roll-off services will be subject to the full CPI adjustment starting in 2026.

Vaughn said Universal has 13 government contracts in New Mexico and serves more than 50,000 customers a week. UWS is also the contracted trash hauler for Peralta, Belen, Rio Communities and customers in the unincorporated areas of Valencia County. The village of Los Lunas has its own solid waste department.

A new service for village residents who want the option is curbside recycling beginning in October, Vaughn said.

For $6 a month, residents will be provided a recycling container that will be picked up on the last Friday of the month. Materials accepted, according to the contract, will be aluminum, flattened corrugated cardboard, junk mail, office paper/newspaper and No. 1 and 2 plastics.

Vaughn said residents didn’t have to use the curbside option and could take recyclable materials to the UWS-operated Conejo Collection Center on Manzano Expressway, on the east side of Valencia County, for free.

The cost of recycling carts will be increased by the full CPI annually.

Continuing under the new contract is the UWS “good neighbor program” which provides 15 roll-off containers to the community for clean ups at no cost to the village, as well as twice-annual tire cleanups and two bulky item pickups per year for customers.

Vaughn said the company has also introduced twice-a-year household hazardous waste and e-waste events at Conejo, which village residents can participate in, as well as spring and fall green waste collections where residents can bundle up green waste and call for a curbside pick up.

UWS also partners with the village in its “We Are Winners” youth program, which allocates $1,500 annually to the municipality to pay out to youth programs and teams in exchange for clean up services to the village.

“It’s a bit of an environmental awareness and education program that lets kids raise money for their programs and lowers the burden on local businesses t hat are getting constantly hit up,” she said.

De Smet asked if UWS had a program or disposal location for lithium batteries since there have been two incidents in the village where a UWS trash truck caught on fire due to those type of batters being thrown out with household trash.

“No one knows not to put them in the trash,” De Smet said.

Vaughn said those could be brought to the company’s household hazardous waste disposal events.

Blackburn said manufacturers are required have drop off locations for lithium batteries.

“I will do some homework and find the closest location and do some outreach to community,” Blackburn said. “It’s bad when they are in the trucks. In our recycling and convenience centers, we’ve put in remote fire suppression due to them.”

De Smet asked if residents could only use UWS roll offs and if they used a different company, would they be billed $250. Vaughn said the company doesn’t bill residents if they use a different roll-off company.

“This contract proposes an exclusive contract for all lines of business, which helps us keep prices low. Obviously, we want residents to have the lowest possible price we can offer,” she said. “Having roll offs as exclusive helps subsidize other areas. Rio Communities, Valencia County, Belen and Peralta all have (an exclusive franchise agreement). It’s the industry standard.”

The contract grants UWS the exclusive franchise during the term to perform “all solid waste collection, disposal and management of all residential, commercial and roll off services for residents, businesses and enterprises...”

Blackburn said in the event a roll off cannot be provided by UWS for some reason, the customer could get the service elsewhere.