Palatine expects to save about $350,000 with a new garbage hauling contract
Palatine expects to save about $350,000 with a new residential garbage hauling contract that starts next year.
As part of the seven-year contract extension the village council has approved with Groot Industries Inc., residents will receive free refuse carts and an opportunity for curbside electronics collection. Groot also agreed to boost the monthly senior discount for the weekly garbage pickup from $1 to $1.50.
Village Manager Reid Ottesen said Groot represents about a 70 percent total cost for Palatine's waste hauling contracts. While Palatine projects “an absolute savings” of $350,000 next year from Groot, he said, what residents pay the village per month will be determined in the 2020 budgeting process after the balance of the trash costs are final.
“I expect that there will be a direct reduction in the bill for the residents that's proposed for the 2020 budget, but the exact amount won't be known until all the other disposal fixed costs are factored in,” Ottesen said Tuesday.
Ottesen said there were factors that played into the price decrease achieved with Groot, including greater competition and Palatine's status as a large suburb. Palatine officials performed a detailed review of the current deal and other recent waste hauling contracts in the Chicago area before agreeing to the extension with Groot.
“It helps when you're a town of 70,000,” he said. “Losing a town of 5,000 probably isn't going to move the needle much for Groot. ... But when you have 70,000 people, that's a lot of garbage and a lot of trucks and a lot of resources they have committed.”
Palatine village council members approved the seven-year contract extension with Groot last week. Councilman Doug Myslinski complimented Ottesen and Groot municipal manager Josh Molnar for striking the deal.
“I just want to say thank you,” Myslinski said. “Nice job, fantastic job both of you guys coming up with this agreement and saving our taxpayer dollars.”
Ottesen said one of the big changes in the contract is that all Groot-serviced homes will receive a refuse cart in the fall. About 30 percent of residents who have been renting a Groot cart for $36 per year no longer will pay that fee starting in 2020.
Groot will begin a new service allowing residents to have electronic waste collected curbside for $20 and a five-item limit. Molnar said the company would want an electronics collection request at least 24 hours in advance.
Groot's base garbage collection price was reduced to $13.65 monthly per single-family home in 2020, according to the contract. It will rise to $15.52 in the final year of the contract in 2026, but equal to this year's rate.