Elizabeth Winkle has not rented out the second apartment in her duplex since 1978, so the 81-year-old Hamline-Midway homeowner was taken aback when the city of St. Paul delivered two trash carts to her back alley. Her new hauler also mailed her two sets of bills.

Macalester-Groveland resident Ann Pelletier is still waiting for a refund from her former hauler for pre-payments she made months ago. “I don’t know if I trust this to happen,” said Pelletier, after another call to Advanced Disposal on Tuesday.

Still another resident said he grappled with his former hauler, Republic, to get them to stop mailing him increasingly aggressive billing notices threatening to send him to collections for services they no longer provide him.

A new approach toward residential garbage hauling rolled out in St. Paul on Oct. 1, and complaints quickly followed, though no one expected the debut of a new citywide system serving 74,000 households to be problem-free.

“This is a large systems change. St. Paul hasn’t done something like this in I don’t know how long,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokeswoman for St. Paul Public Works. “We’re also hearing from people who are saying ‘my rates are down and there’s only one truck on my alley.’ There’s a lot of people who are quietly saying, ‘This is working.’ And we’re nine weeks in.”

It is working very well for us – no service problems, much quieter in the morning without all the trucks, and I have noticed less dumping. I agree that the city should get on organics recycling ASAP. — Margaret Kaplan (@margaretkaplan) November 29, 2018

Critics note pricier-than-expected rates, surprise late fees, poor customer service and onerous rules around temporary service holds. Those experiences appear to be common but not universal.

Many customers say they’re saving money through the new contract and had few, if any, problems. With one hauler per neighborhood instead of as many as 11 or more, some say their alleys are quieter, cleaner and safer.

“My bill doubled in price but I like not having three trucks rumble down the street every morning,” said Amber Lenhoff. “I did have to call my old hauler to track down my refund, however.”

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Senate GOP plans vote on Trump’s court pick before election City officials are asking residents to try to work out customer service issues directly with their hauler before appealing to the city for help. After that, call the city’s garbage information line at 651-266-6101. The city posts announcements at stpaul.gov/garbage.

With both pros and cons in mind, St. Paul City Council President Amy Brendmoen said city officials plan discussions in January with the consortium of private haulers collecting garbage. Their five-year contract with the city began Oct. 1 and runs through late 2023.

Here’s a rundown of concerns and efforts to address them.

CONCERN: Rates are too high. One of the most fundamental criticisms of the new residential trash collection system are the prices. Given economies of scale, many residents expected to see their rates fall. Instead, under the new system, critics say their bills have stayed flat or increased. It’s a common complaint, but with 74,000 households, it’s tough to tell how common.

With taxes and fees, charges through December 2019 range from $60.83 to $102.44 per quarter, before an annual administrative and outreach fee of $24.60 attached to property tax bills.

Part owner of 4 unit condo building on Grand Ave. Our costs have tripled for less service then what we got before from the same garbage pickup provider. Also have had issues with billing and getting any type of communication from provider — Cale (@POOL108) November 29, 2018

“Rates are higher for some users,” said Brendmoen, in an email. “For many people rates are actually lower, but for obvious reasons they aren’t complaining loudly.”

STATUS: The current rates are in place until the end of 2019, at which time they may be adjusted up or down based on prenegotiated factors such as fuel costs. Rates also include the collection of two or three bulk items, like sofas and refrigerators, per year.

Otherwise, there’s not much the city can do on pricing before the current contract ends in 2023. Reopening the contract early would take a commitment from both sides — the city and the consortium of haulers.

For the city, the cost concerns do underscore the importance of data collection prior to negotiations. Back in 2016, city officials asked residents to voluntarily share their trash bills for a better understanding of average prices. The city received fewer than 215 responses — not enough to gain a clear understanding. What became clear, however, was the wide range: Rates varied by up to $49 for similar services.

All good for me. Everything picked up on time, billing is fine, even took advantage of the one free large item pickup for this transition year and got rid of an old mattress that had been in the garage for too long. 1/2 — Victoria Ford (@vmford) November 29, 2018

CONCERN: Unfair late fees. Residents had until the end of October to pay their first three months of service, but Advanced Disposal apparently didn’t get the memo. Some residents say the hauler sent them a bill in late September demanding payment by Oct. 4, and then hit them with late fees, as well as warning notices that the bill would appear on their property taxes if they didn’t comply. Related Articles St. Paul district reports enrollment drop as pandemic moves school online

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“I have been talking with a neighbor who got her bill from Advanced Disposal one day before it was due,” said Don Gemberling, an open-government advocate with the watchdog group St. Paul Strong. “She paid it and then got a late charge notice.”

STATUS: In mid-November, with complaints piling, St. Paul Public Works issued a notice asking residents to report if they got hit by unfair late fees. It appears the problem was largely contained to a single hauler. “It really was Advanced Disposal, and that was something we continue to work with Advanced Disposal and the hauler group on,” said Hiebert, the Public Works spokeswoman. “Anecdotally, people who got late fees from other haulers were getting the late fees waived if they paid by Oct. 31.”

CONCERN: No opt-outs or cart-sharing allowed. Given the city’s eagerness to cut down on illegal dumping, the new contract does not allow households to opt out of trash service or share carts and costs with neighbors. “Zero-wasters” — members of households who generate little, if any, garbage — say that’s an unfair burden for them and a disincentive toward recycling in general.

At a time of escalating rents, building owners, condo owners and renters say they’re shouldering added costs for trash services they don’t need. St. Paul Trash, a group of residents opposed to the new system, has tried twice without success to get the city council to put a question on the public ballot. They’re now threatening legal action.

STATUS: City council officials say they share concerns about cart-sharing, but before organized collection, there were 9,300 households that had no trash pick-up.

“Garbage service has always been required in the city, but there was no straightforward way to enforce that requirement,” Brendmoen said. “There is uniform agreement on the council that it would prefer a system that allows sharing and possibly opt-out. The council would hope to see Public Works negotiators make some headway on this, but it will require agreement from the consortium.”

CONCERN: Snowbirds must prove they’re heading out of town. Former state Rep. Michael Paymar alerted the city not long ago that when he asked his hauler to put his service and billing on hold during his winter getaway, the hauler responded by demanding an airline or hotel receipt, a doctor’s note or another form of proof. He called the service-hold request forms — which appeared to be in widespread use — unnecessarily intrusive and a possible safety concern, given that unscrupulous types could request a copy of appeals to the city and determine the addresses and the dates residents would be out of town.

STATUS: The city quickly negotiated a new service-hold request form with the hauler consortium which is less intrusive and requires no additional documentation, though it still asks residents to explain why they’re leaving town. Service and billing can be put on hold for no less than four consecutive weeks, no more than twice a year, and up to 26 weeks a year. Haulers need two weeks notice.

CONCERN: Some single-family homes are duplexes. Residents who have for years lived alone in duplexes — effectively treating them like single-family homes — say they were surprised to wake up one day to two trash carts in their alley, followed by two sets of bills.

STATUS: Brendmoen has the following advice: “If your home is categorized as a duplex, but you are using it as a single-family, you can apply to have it changed at the county. This would include property tax reductions since duplexes are taxed at a higher rate than single-family homes. … If you have a duplex but half is vacant, you can fill out a form to have the unit classified as vacant and it will not get service.”

CONCERN: Trash haulers leaving carts too close to recycling. More than one resident has noted that if trash haulers leave a customer’s carts too close to their recycling carts after emptying them, Eureka Recycling may not complete their collection.

STATUS: Customers can call their hauler directly with this concern. Also, be sure to leave as much space as possible between carts so Eureka trucks can grab the recycling carts with their mechanical arms. “When people put out their carts, they need to leave at least two feet between their carts and any other object,” Hiebert said.

I LOVE it. I love that both my recycle and garbage are on the same day and the trucks are only in our alley 1 day. It's bliss. Before we had different trucks every morning. Early. The apartment buildings lining the alley could never organize the same hauler. — Joanne Spencer (@joannehspencer) November 29, 2018

CONCERN: Large haulers are absorbing smaller ones. In November 2017, St. Paul Public Works signed a contract with St. Paul Haulers LLC, a consortium of 15 residential trash haulers already serving customers within St. Paul. Part of the city’s stated goal was to help protect local, family-run haulers from losing routes to national companies.

Over the past year, about half the locals have sold off their routes anyway. As of late September, eight haulers remain. For instance, R & M Sanitation of St. Paul — founded in 1976 by city residents Roger and Marylou Oehrlein — sold their residential St. Paul routes a few weeks ago to Republic, which serves all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

STATUS: Industry consolidation was a trend long before organized trash collection, and city officials don’t expect it to go away. It’s clear that despite the stated goal the contract hasn’t slowed the trend, however, and may have actually sped it up.

CONCERN: My old hauler has yet to collect my old trash cart.