Jamestown Board of Public Utilities meeting (December 19, 2022)

Solid waste fees will be going up in 2023 for Jamestown Board of Public Utilities customers.

The BPU Board approved the rate increase for residential and some commercial customers.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers said some expenses in solid waste went up significantly in 2022 including fuel expenses, landfill tipping fees and labor costs, “The division is going to end with a net loss this year. So, as we looked at that, you know we want to continue to give financial credit as an incentive for people to recycle, so we thought it was time to bump that up a little bit. But the overall rate went up a $1.50 and if you recycle once a billing period as a residential customer, the overall rate goes up $1 per month. So, we felt that was manageable.”

Leathers said most dumpster service rates are doubling for 2023. He said everyone who receives that service has been notified already.

The BPU Board also approved the Electric Division’s budget with no rate adjustment for 2023.

Monday’s meeting also was the first time the meeting was livestreamed on the BPU’s website. Leathers said the video of the meetings will be archived on their site at jamestownbpu.com/live

BPU officials sent out a media release saying weekly collections will be as follows starting in September: paper, glass, metal, plastic and cardboard/box board. Each type of recyclable will have its own week of collection as part of a revised four-month schedule that will be sent out to customers in the coming weeks.

While the change is schedule takes place, customers will still be asked to continue participating in the orange RFID bin program, with regular recycling customers receiving a discounted monthly rate on their solid waste bills.

The reason for the change to five recycling categories is due to the BPU struggling this year with a recycling market that continues to change and to impact what Jamestown BPU recycling customers may or may not recycle. Regional recycling vendors face continuing challenges of where they can sell or disperse recyclables.

“As China has closed its doors to American recyclables, when it once took delivery of a majority of the U.S. recycling market, national and regional vendors are working to find outlets for their products,” the media release stated.  “These international recycling market changes mean that American vendors have had to restrict what recyclables they accept and in what combination they can economically process.”

“For instance, BPU paper recyclables will no longer be received by our recycling vendors when mixed with cardboard and box board. While BPU garbage disposal costs currently are $28.50 a ton at the landfill, for example, fees for recycling of paper with cardboard/box board together fluctuate and recently have cost more than $100 a ton. This expense is not sustainable for the BPU and its Solid Waste customers, as the BPU strives to keep rates at a reasonably priced level for residents.”

“We understand that recycling customers may be dismayed by recent changes in what recycling we can accept and in how we continue to collect it,” notes BPU General Manager David Leathers. “Please know that we are endeavoring to find options to keep recycling and garbage collection manageable and affordable for our residents. Affordable rates for our customers and reliable services are our highest concerns.”

The revised recycling calendar will be in effect from September, 2019, through the end of this year. The revised calendars will be included with all garbage bills. The amended schedule is also posted on the utility website at JamestownBPU.com on the home page and on the Solid Waste section. Calendars also are available in the BPU Customer Service Office, 92 Steele Street.

For questions or to request a revised calendar, customers may contact the Garbage Hotline at 661-1651, Communications at 661-1680 or Customer Service at 661-1660.

The audit covered the time period from Jan. 1, 2014 through June 27, 2017.

• READ COMPLETE REPORT

ENERGY EFFICIENCY FINDINGS

Through its energy rebate program, the BPU issues rebates and credits to customers who purchase and install certain energy efficient equipment, lighting, and other materials. The BPU will issue a rebate and/or credits to customers after they submitted an application and provide sufficient documentation demonstrating that an eligible purchase and installation has been completed. The BPU’s Energy Efficiency Program Coordinator and customer service department approve, process and retained customer applications.

To recover associated costs of the program, the BPU collected a surcharge from its electric customers. According to information provided by BPU officials, since inception, approximately $3.5 million has been spent on the program and electric consumption has been reduced by 16 million kilowatt-hours.

The audit found that even though the BPU annually adopted energy program guidelines establishing rates and eligibility criteria, BPU management did not implement procedures to ensure that all rebates and credits were accurately processed in accordance with these guidelines.

It also found 26 applications for energy rebates totaling $127,000 did not have sufficient technical documentation attached and 25 totaling $150,876 did not have required documentation to clearly identify the type and/or quantity of materials purchased.

RECYCLING PROGRAM FINDINGS

The audit also found that standard BPU Recycling credits were processed correctly, but Manual Recycling Credits were processed without adequate oversight.

Under the BPU’s recycling program, customers are charged a flat rate for garbage removal, but will be given a discount credit off their bill if they participate in recycling during the the billing period. The BPU tracks recycling participation by scanning bar codes located on recycling bins used by customers.

The comptroller’s office learned that BPU employees used their own discretion when adding credits based on customer complaints, customers claiming they were unable to put out their recycling, and when processing final bills for customers who moved to new locations.

The audit also said that because BPU management did not establish adequate review procedures or provide appropriate oversight, making it unaware that employees were not adequately reviewing applications. The BPU also did not establish policies or procedures addressing how applications submitted by BPU employees and their relatives should be approved and processed and no policies existed to prevent or prohibit employees from approving and processing their own applications.

BPU AGREES WITH RECOMMENDED CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

The report provided a series of recommendations to address the oversights, and in a response to the initial draft audit, BPU officials agreed with the recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.

More details on the audit, including a link to the full report, can be found at the state comptroller’s website.

According to the article, the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities held a work session on Monday and discussed the budgets for garbage, sewer and district heating.

BPU officials are proposing a $1 increase for garbage customers who do not recycle and a 50 cent rate increase for those who do. That means that starting in 2015, the garbage rate will $21 for non-recyclers and $10.50 for customers who receive a recycling rebate.

The BPU began its Residential Recycling Credit Program earlier this year. Prior to the start of the program, all customers were paying $12.10 a month for garbage pickup – regardless of whether or not they were recycling.

BPU officials are proposing no rate increase for sewage or district heating. Officials will vote on the budgets for the three divisions during the BPU’s Oct. 27 meeting. During that meeting, they will also discuss the 2015 budget for electric and water.

Jamestown resident Guinn Anderson spoke before the Jamestown City Council on Monday night, explaining that he has not received a $10 credit from the BPU, despite the fact that he has been recycling on a monthly basis.

Earlier this year the BPU introduced new recycling bins for all city residents with each containing a unique bar code. Each time a bin was emptied by solid waste employees, the bar code would be scanned and as long as a bin was scanned at least once a month, the BPU would give the BPU customer with the corresponding bar code a $10 credit off their  monthly bill.

However, Anderson says he was still being charged an additional $10 despite the fact he has been recycling on a regular basis. He says the problem is that the bar code on the recycling bin he was given and has been using does not match his home address and as a result, he’s not getting the monthly recycling credit that is owed to him.

Anderson explained to the city council that if this is happening to other residents as well, it could open the door to a class action lawsuit on the grounds of false enticement. He also told city lawmakers that he recently spoke with a representative of the BPU, but was unhappy with the way it was handled and feels that his concern didn’t get the proper attention that it deserves. As a result, he brought his concern directly to the city government.

Anderson also suggested that a solution would be for the BPU to provide all customers with their recycling bar code number in their monthly billing statement, so that they can be sure they have the correct recycling bin.

City council president Greg Rabb along with city councilman Tony Dolce said they would follow up on the matter, but also suggested that Anderson bring his concerns directly to the BPU during its next monthly meeting.

JAMESTOWN – Residents who get their garbage picked up by the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities will be getting special new recycling bins starting this week and continuing for the next several weeks. The new bins are part of the BPU’s new Residential Recycling Credit Program, which will go into effect on March 24 and will serve as an incentive to get more residents to recycle.

During Monday Night’s Jamestown City Council work session, BPU General Manager David Leathers – along with several other BPU representatives – talked about the new program with city officials. Leathers says the program was developed because, currently, only about 35 percent of the city’s estimated 12,000 solid waste customers recycle.

“There’s been a lot of discussion over the years about our customers not recycling frequently enough and I think it got to the point where there was different ideas about penalties, getting the city inspectors involved and ticketing. But I think the team has come up with a great solution which is really a credit program to incentivize people to recycle,” Leathers said. “We hop that we’re going to increase from a 35 percent contribution range to a much higher customer participation rate.”

BPU officials say the program will involve electronic scanners located in each recycling bin that are scanned whenever a customers bin is emptied by solid waste customers. If the customer is recycles each month, they will have $10 taken off their monthly garbage rate – which will be increased to $20 starting in March in anticipation of the new recycling credit program.

Leathers also says that the BPU is anticipating some questions from BPU customers during the first few months the new program is implemented, adding that his staff will be ready to handle any increase in calls to the BPU offices.

“Customer service is one of the busiest departments we have,” Leathers said. “They’re prepared to field calls and we’ve also added some additional head count to try and answer questions on a timely basis. We hope that we’re responsive to people’s questions and they’re not getting put into voicemails. Hopefully the can connect with somebody, get and answer and we can move on.”

The BPU says each of the new orange recycling bins will be unique to the individual address that receives a monthly bill, so residents are encouraged to keep track of their unique orange bins. If customers have more than one bin of recyclables for any given week, they can use the old yellow recycling bins. No other changes to the recycling program is set to take place and residents will follow their usual recycling schedule.

Again, the new orange bins will starting going out to customers over the next few weeks, with the recycling credit program going into effect starting March 24.

Residents with questions can learn more by visiting www.JamestownBPU.com or by calling customer service at 661-1663.