Decades ago, Coronado decided to subsidize a portion of its waste collection fees in an effort to make recycling more attractive to residents.
As it prepares to increase waste collection fees, the Coronado City Council will also consider phasing the subsidy out faster than planned.
Currently, the subsidy covers 15 percent of a single-family home’s waste removal bill, with the resident covering the rest.
This costs about $234,000 each year.
Coronado also subsidizes recycling for the Coronado Cays and for multi-family housing, costing an additional $27,000 and $83,000, respectively.
The subsidy was initially set at 50 percent in 1999, and the city began to gradually decrease it in 2013, with the goal of eventually eliminating it.
The need to incentivize recycling no longer exists the way it once did, and the economics of recycling have changed: It’s no longer profitable.
The city adjusts its waste collection, which is contracted through EDCO, every two years.
Since 2013, the subsidy has dropped by 5 percent most times the rate has been adjusted.
It’s time to set new rates, and the city proposed another such drop – bringing the subsidy to 10 percent.
Meanwhile, EDCO has proposed a 13.2% increase for single-family waste collection rates.
Under the proposed increase and subsidy, residents of single-family homes would pay $28 per month for refuse, recycling, and organic service, and the city would pay $3.11, for a total fee of $31.11.
This would bring the subsidy to 10 percent.
Currently, residents of single-family homes pay $23.34, and the city covers the remaining $4.14.
Residences in the Coronado Cays are charged a different fee, under multi-family cart service, which would be $17.13 under the proposed increase, with the city paying $2.85.
However, Councilmember Mark Fleming thinks the city should bring the subsidy to zero sooner.
“My proposal is that, instead of just incrementally taking this down, we stop subsidizing it,” Fleming said at the April 15 meeting of the Coronado City Council.
“We take the subsidy to zero and pass that cost on.
We can use those funds for other things that will benefit residents that don’t have to go to covering garbage and recycling.”
The rest of the council seemed amenable, but favored a two-year phase out: bringing the subsidy to 7.5% for the next rate adjustment, and then, two years later, bringing it to zero.
The city has long planned to eliminate the subsidy regardless; this is a matter of pacing.
At that meeting, the City Council voted to set a public hearing for the proposed rate increase – to $31.11 total for single-family residences – for June 17.
It also decided to bring the matter of the subsidy to the council again to decide whether a quicker phase-out would be appropriate.
The rate itself is set by EDCO.
The proposed new rates are $31.11 for single-family homes; $17.13 for multi-family cart service, such as in the Cays, $19.13 for commercial cart service, and $2.09 per unit for multi-family recycling.
If approved, the new rate will take effect July 1.
image source from：https://coronadotimes.com/news/2025/04/17/coronado-is-phasing-out-its-waste-collection-subsidy/
