Belvedere OKs near 8% hike in garbage rates

Belvedere residents will pay from $50 to over $200 more a year more for garbage and recycling services starting in less than two weeks, keeping the city’s rates among the highest in Marin.

The 7.86% rate-increase request from Mill Valley Refuse Service is more than double inflation and will lift the monthly price of a standard 32-gallon can to $71.70, nearly 34% higher than the countywide average of $53.56, according to an analysis by R3 Consulting Group. Belvedere’s just shy of the high of $73.01 in the service’s “county zone 4” serving unincorporated Mill Valley, while the low is $26.88 in Bolinas through Recology.

Beginning July 1 and billed quarterly, service for a 32-gallon can in Belvedere will rise to $215.10 from $199.44, or a $15.66 increase per quarter. Service for a 20-gallon can will jump to $174.06 from $161.37, or a $12.69 increase, while service for a 45-gallon can will go up $19.02, to $261.03 from $242.01. Those increases grow with the number of cans and pickups.

The City Council approved new prices in a 4-0 vote on June 10, with Councilmember Jim Lynch absent. The Strawberry Recreation District approved its 6.71% rate increase on June 11, and the 7.92% request to Tiburon is on the Town Council agenda for tonight, June 19.

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