Garbage trucks will roll through Fort Walton Beach neighborhoods twice a week again starting this fall after the City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday night.
- Residents will pay $29.12 monthly for twice-weekly garbage collection, an increase of $1.99 from the current $27.13 rate for once-weekly service. The change takes effect Oct. 1.
“I’m loving that we get to keep it in-house for $1.99 more instead of seeing it go out,” Councilman Logan Browning said. He made the motion to approve the staff’s recommendation.
The city eliminated twice-weekly pickup in October 2014 when it launched curbside recycling. Browning brought the issue back before the council in December, which directed staff to develop a proposal.
Council members considered three options: keeping the current once-weekly model, moving to twice-weekly pickup through the city’s Solid Waste Division, or soliciting proposals from private haulers. Staff recommended the second option, calling it the most cost-effective choice that wouldn’t burden commercial customers.
City Manager Jason Davis cautioned that outsourcing would be a one-way decision.
- “If we get out of the business, we’re never going to be able to take it back in,” Davis said. “We have 14,15 of these trucks – they’re half-a-million dollars a piece, 8,000 dumpsters, and so on and so forth.”
Under the new schedule, residents’ existing garbage pickup day becomes one of two weekly collections. The current recycling day — either Thursday or Friday — becomes the second garbage day. Recycling will split into four smaller zones covering Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Daniel Payne, public works and utility services director, said the timing worked in the city’s favor. A new side-loading truck already on order will arrive by May or June, and one employee will be reclassified as a driver. No additional full-time positions are needed.
“We’re already visiting your house twice a week to pick up a can,” Payne said. “One of those is going to be garbage.”
At $29.12 monthly, Fort Walton Beach will remain the least expensive option among neighboring municipalities offering twice-weekly residential pickup. Destin charges $29.80 through Waste Management. Crestview residents pay $38.76 through Adams Sanitation. Unincorporated Okaloosa County residents pay $37.27.
Councilman David Schmidt noted the comparison.
- “For our shareholders, our residents…increases the level of service, but we would still be the most inexpensive program in town,” Schmidt said.
A rate comparison included in the council agenda also examined commercial pricing, where Fort Walton Beach holds an advantage over competitors. Commercial rates will remain unchanged.
Compared to Destin, where Waste Management provides service, Fort Walton Beach businesses pay less depending on dumpster size and pickup frequency:
- Two-yard dumpsters: $106 to $297.61 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
- Four-yard dumpsters: $74.67 to $196.38 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
- Six-yard dumpsters: $43.66 to $91.02 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
- Eight-yard dumpsters: Rates level out between the two cities
The gap is wider when comparing Fort Walton Beach to Crestview, where Adams Sanitation provides service:
- Two-yard dumpsters: $77.10 to $231.09 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
- Four-yard dumpsters: $151.64 to $436.87 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
- Six-yard dumpsters: $209.19 to $593.19 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
- Eight-yard dumpsters: $242.85 to $677.46 less per month in Fort Walton Beach
Councilwoman Gloria DeBerry cast the lone dissenting vote, expressing concern about residents who don’t fill their garbage cans weekly subsidizing those who generate more waste, including short-term rentals.
“I have a new Airbnb in my neighborhood coming in,” DeBarry said. “I suggested that they go rent a second trash can and be charged for that rather than people such as myself and others that rarely fill one garbage can every week.”
Schmidt noted that environmental factors also favor more frequent pickup.
“I don’t even think we really hit on too much the environmental impacts of trash being left out in the heat for a week compared to trash being left out in the heat for three days,” he said.
Mayor Nic Allegretto praised the decision after the vote.
“I think that’s one of the best services that we have as a city, period,” Allegretto said. “Once you start getting into, ‘oh, we’re gonna let these people run it’, they can tell you what those costs are, and then you have no control of it.”
One Response
When you’re nonprofit like the city is, the cost should always remain low with respect to the actual cost in providing the service and I believe Fort Walton Beach City councilmen understand that. thank you for not outsourcing and losing control to a profit driven entity. I agree that those of us who don’t fill up a can will be subsidizing and paying extra, but I still prefer saving money rather than outsourcing and keeping our employees in the job.