BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL OKs INCREASE TO TRASH, RECYCLING RATES

  

The Brenham City Council gave approval today (Thursday) to an increase in the city’s sanitation rates.

Officials from Brannon Industrial Group, also known as BVR Waste and Recycling, provided the city notice in May of its intent to implement a rate hike for trash and recycling services, with a target date of October.  The rate increase will also apply at the BVR Collection/Transfer Station.

City of Brenham Public Works Director Dane Rau said the city and BVR settled on a blended rate increase of 7.9 percent after working together to consider the impact to all customers, whether they receive curbside trash pickup or drop off materials at the Collection Station.  He said they also analyzed BVR’s operating costs and emphasized maintaining competitive rates compared to other area cities.

The new rates will bring costs for residential curbside sanitation and recycling per month up from $17 to $18.  Seniors will pay $13 per month, up from $12.50.  The cost for an extra cart will go up from $9 to $10.  Brush collection will increase from $17 to $18.  A 10 percent increase will be applied to commercial sanitation rates. 

Rates for dropping off materials at the Collection/Transfer Station, including tires, brush and waste, will see increases ranging from $2 to $15.  Rau said the city wanted to ensure with these changes that residents would not be discouraged from dumping materials at the Collection/Transfer Station and instead choose to dump them illegally. 

The city’s last rate increase was in 2022.  Rau said BVR has been a good partner through the first five years of its contract with the city, which is now on a year-by-year basis and can be renewed each year up through the 10 years of the contract. 

In other business today, the council:

• Passed an amendment to the city’s professional services agreement with Strand Associates for the surface water treatment plant rehabilitation and expansion project.  The amendment is to adjust the scope of work, increasing the project’s not-to-exceed amount by $7,500, and altering the time of performance from a completion date of October 1, 2027 to January 31, 2028. 
• Re-appointed members to serve on the Capital Improvements Advisory Committee.  The reappointments were necessitated by the passage of Senate Bill 1883 in the 89^th Legislature, as it altered the requirements of the industry professionals who serve on the committee so that at least 50 percent of its members must be representatives of the real estate, development or building industries who are not employees or officials of the governmental entity.  The new committee members are Dr. Paul LaRoche III, Cayte Neil, Blake Brannon, Wende Buckley, Blake Lucherk, Dale Martin and Elizabeth Price.
• Held a work session to discuss the impacts of the passage of House Bill 1522 from the 89^th Legislature, which changes agenda posting requirements through the Open Meetings Act.  Effective September 1^st, meeting notices must be posted for at least three business days before the scheduled date of the meeting; previously, the posting requirement was 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting.
• Held executive session discussion on the possible purchase, exchange or acquisition of real property for sanitary sewer improvements and facilities, as well as matters regarding the Brenham Municipal Airport.  No action was scheduled to be taken.

Click here to view the agenda packet for Thursday's meeting.