Capping a year of political drama over residential trash, the St. Paul City Council voted 7-0 on Wednesday to approve a $1-per-month decrease to trash rates for 2020.

What may sound like a minor rate adjustment follows months of contentious letters, emails, meetings and public hearings between city staff — who had sought a $1 million reduction to the $27 million annual contract — and the city’s six private haulers, who sought a $2.5 million rate increase.

The 57 pages of letters and emails were not released by the mayor’s office and added to the council agenda until Nov. 6, the day after a high-profile ballot referendum on organized trash collection.

St. Paul Public Works Director Kathy Lantry told the council that trash rates were determined by an equation spelled out in the contract that the city signed with a group of private haulers in 2017.

That equation bases monthly pricing on four factors — drop-off or “tipping” fees at a Ramsey County disposal facility, gas costs, a consumer price index, and overall tonnage. Lantry said the haulers agreed with city staff on three parts of the equation, but differed on how they calculated tonnage.

Both sides agreed on total tonnage collected over the past year — 56,000 tons.

The city then incorporated disposal fees and divided by 12 to determine that overall costs in the $27 million contract had dropped by $67,000 monthly, or more than $800,000. Haulers did the math differently, Lantry said, using the tonnage hauled by a single company with the heaviest loads.

“We don’t necessarily agree with the rates being set by the city staff,” said Daniel Schleck, legal counsel to the haulers’ consortium, addressing the council. He noted in a public council hearing a week earlier that disposal costs have gone up 20 percent.

Responding to public criticism, the city asked the haulers this summer to allow cart sharing in triplexes and fourplexes, as well as opt-outs for townhomes, without success.

“They’ve come to the table at the 11th hour, when they know if we don’t act by (Nov.) 20th, they get to keep the current rates,” said City Council Member Jane Prince.

Council President Amy Brendmoen noted that while most voters on Nov. 5 approved the city’s five-year trash contract through a ballot referendum, the contract faced criticism.

One of its greatest strengths, however, is that it sets rates based on a year’s worth of citywide data, rather than legacy pricing or negotiations that may vary from household to household.

The rate savings will be offset by roughly $320,000 to cover the haulers’ legal fees and the hiring of a consortium representative, as allowed by the contract.

Immediately prior to Wednesday’s vote, a series of homeowners and landlords took the microphone to urge the council to continue to attempt to reopen the contract. Some called the new savings paltry.

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St. Paul City Council relaxes housing density restrictions near transit corridors “The hauler’s demands were kept secret until the day after the election,” said Tom Goldstein, a spokesman for the “Vote No” coalition. “There’s been talk about racism in this contract? Let’s talk about classism. How is (saving) $10 a year going to help renters?”

On Sept. 9, Greg Revering, chief manager of the St. Paul Haulers consortium, told the city in no uncertain terms that reopening the contract to discuss cart sharing, opt outs and rate adjustments was out of the question.