Trash is about to cost more in San Antonio.
The majority of residents will pay an additional 50 cents per month for their trash pickup starting this fall, if the proposed fiscal year budget for 2025 is passed by City Council in September.
Homeowners who utilize the city’s smallest trash can size of 48 gallons would be unaffected by the proposed rate increase and will continue to pay just $14.76 per month. The city’s environmental fee — which supplies the city’s Solid Waste Operating and Maintenance Fund — will also remain at $3 per month.
San Antonio’s Solid Waste Department is seeking to raise and utilize an additional $13 million within the upcoming annual budget to help it hire more staff, expand its vehicle fleet, and process more waste within a rapidly growing city, said David Newman, director of the department, during a council work session Tuesday.
San Antonio currently has about 375,000 residential customers, but has seen that number grow between 3,000 to 4,000 customers per year over the last several years, Newman said.
The city would like to also utilize the additional funds to hire a new illegal dumping cleanup crew, which costs about $800,000 for the year. This would add five employees and would allow the city to purchase specialized equipment, Newman said. The department is seeking an additional $530,000 to increase the number of homeless encampment cleanups, in conjunction with the State Department of Human Services, he added.
Under the proposed rate increase, residents who have the medium-sized 64-gallon trash bin will see their monthly payment rise from $19.76 per month to $20.26. Residents who utilize the large-sized 96-gallon trash bins — which is roughly 85% of all residential customers — will go from paying $30.25 per month to $30.75.
Residents will see the fee increase on their CPS Energy bills starting in October. The electric utility collects and routes the money to the city directly.
The Solid Waste Department is also proposing to close its Bitters Brush Grinding facility on Sundays, which would save the city roughly $58,000 for the year, said Josephine Valencia, deputy Solid Waste Management director. This facility is the city’s lowest-attended, Valencia said.
The department will seek City Council approval this Thursday to also to purchase “smart collection system” — tech to put into garbage trucks which will allow supervisors to create efficient routes, provide live navigational assistance and provide service verification, Newman said.
If approved, the city hopes to have the technology installed by Christmas, he said.