Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Works Department

MEMO TO:              David Corliss, City Manager

Cynthia Wagner, Assistant City Manager

Casey Toomay, Budget Manager

                             Chuck Soules, Public Works Director        

FROM:                    Tammy Bennett, Assistant Public Works Director

SUBJECT:                    Adjustment to 2011 Solid Waste budget request and rates

DATE:                     July 15, 2010 revised 07/26/10

The City Commission review staff’s recommended Solid Waste budget during a study session on July 13, 2010.  Based on feedback from elected officials and the City Manager, the Solid Waste budget for 2011 has been revised to achieve balanced revenue and expenditures with a 5 percent solid waste rate increase.  The 5 percent rate increase is half a percent less than what would be required by the landfill rate increases alone.     

To reduce the rate increase request from 7.5% to 5.0%, $187,500 had to be removed from the budget proposal.  The following budget line items were changed:

Line item area	Proposed change	Comments / explanation
Diesel fuel	Decreased $35,000	The revised budget plans for 140,000 gallons of diesel fuel in 2011 at the same pricing guidelines as directed for the all funds, over 11,000 gallons less than first submitted.
Unleaded fuel	Decreased $ 5,700	The revised budget follows pricing instructions.
Part-time salaries	Decreased $45,000	The revised budget eliminates funding for part-time and temporary help planned for summer peaks (work load and vacation), summer paint crews for container maintenance, and administrative support for Waste Reduction / Recycling.
Vehicle replacement	Decreased $145,000	The revised budget removes funding for one rear-load refuse truck.  While the truck was identified as a critical replacement, operations have eliminated at least one full crew for daily operations.  It is feasible to move one of the scheduled rear-loaders to back-up status.  The Solid Waste Division still has a significant list of equipment replacement that has been deferred.
Equipment	Increased $43,200	The City Commission has expressed a high level of interest in providing management tools that could track rolling stock in real time.  With the reduction of the above lines, this proposal includes some funding for implementation of some level of GPS real-time data capabilities.  Significant research still needs to be done on the capital expense and the monthly fees associated with these services, if the City Commission wishes staff to pursue GPS technology for real-time monitoring of rolling stock.

For 2011, residential customers will pay $0.70 more per month for trash due to landfill rates increasing almost 28 percent.  Minimum commercial customers will pay $1.01 more per month due to landfill rates.