The rates the city of Mexico is charged for trash pick-up services will be increasing in April.

The Mexico City Council accepted a new 10-year proposal from current service provider Dayne’s Waste Disposal that will be set at $11.35 per month which is up from the current rate of $9.29. That’s an increase of more than $2 per month.

Deputy City Manager Roger Haynes made the presentation to the council at a regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 8. Haynes said the city entered into the current agreement in 2014 and it’s set to expire at the end of March. Haynes said requests for proposals were sent to four different companies including Dayne’s which is based here in Mexico. Requests were also sent to Meridian Waste, Foristell; Republic Services, Jefferson City; and T-Mac Solid Waste, Columbia. Only the proposal from Dayne’s was received.

Haynes urged the council to accept the new proposal that will run through March of 2034 saying, “Given the exceptional service provided to the city of Mexico,” over the past 20 years. 

Haynes said that although the city is seeing an increase of more than $2 per month the deal is a lot cheaper than what other cities in the state are paying. Haynes said 14 different communities were surveyed about their rates. He said on average other cities are paying $17.28 per month.

Haynes said the proposal is a base rate and may not be the total for some customers, but did say, “I can assure the council there will still be at least a couple of dollars less per month than the average rate being charged by other residential communities.”

Haynes went even further and located the bids received for trash service 10 years ago. If the city had accepted the next lowest bid the current rate for trash service would be $13.78.

“Although we’re seeing a $2.06 increase it’s still good compared to what we’re seeing offered by other service providers,” Haynes said.

Councilman Steve Haag asked why the contract was for 10 years and also inquired about rate adjustments. Haynes said he can remember coming back to the council on two occasions to adjust the rate. One time was a fuel rate adjustment when fuel prices skyrocketed and the other time was when Dayne’s had an increase in landfill expenses.

“Within the current contract wording there is a stipulation that renegotiations are available as long as it’s an equitable request,” Haynes said.

“He does a great job for us. I just want to be fair to him as well,” Haag added.

Councilman Larry Webber asked about recycling services and why they can’t be part of the service. Haynes said about a decade ago the city surveyed about 4,300 customers and only 112 said they would be interested in recycling services.

“The only way that one of the providers would do this is was kind of an all or nothing,” Haynes said. “Everybody would have to be charged for it if they were using it or not.”

Webber said he realizes the city has the Handi-Shop for recycling some items but not everything can be taken there. Webber said it can be quite an inconvenience to pick out what you can take locally and then haul the rest to Columbia.

“I don’t recycle but I would,” Webber said.

The new agreement will go into effect April 1, and will run through March 31, 2034.