Commissioners ask staff for fee‑impact estimates for solid‑waste and STS fares to help close budget gap
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Summary
Staff presented fee options as revenue levers: raising the residential solid‑waste fee and incremental increases to the county’s STS transit fares. Public works provided quick revenue estimates and commissioners asked for more precise scenarios to consider during budget work sessions.
County staff identified fee changes as potential revenue options to reduce the FY2011 shortfall and commissioners asked for incremental revenue estimates to inform decisions.
George Erickson, public works/transportation staff, told the board that the county has examined its solid‑waste fee and STS (Special Transportation Service) fares and could model revenue impacts by small incremental changes. Erickson said the solid‑waste fund subsidy from the general fund is growing and that raising the residential fee would reduce that subsidy. He responded to commissioners that, based on the county’s counts, “For every $5 that we increase the solid waste fee, we will generate an additional $189,400.”
On STS fares, Erickson said ridership sensitivity is an important constraint but that modest fare increases can generate meaningful revenue. He gave a staff estimate that “for every quarter that we increase the fees for STS, it should generate about 70 to 75,000 for each quarter,” adding that modeling can show the revenue impacts of $0.25, $0.50 or other increments.
Commissioners asked staff to prepare detailed increment tables showing: the revenue gained per $5 increase in solid‑waste fees; revenue by 25¢ and 50¢ changes to STS fares; estimated elasticity (ridership decline) scenarios; and examples of zone‑ or mileage‑based fare structures. Staff agreed to return with firm calculations for the March 15 work session.
No fee increases were approved on March 8; commissioners directed staff to present the modeled scenarios as part of the package of options to close the budget gap.