Kodiak Assembly to vote on trash deal raising some business rates up to 43%

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly votes Thursday on a five-year trash contract with Alaska Waste, the only company that bid, that would raise some business dumpster rates by up to 43%.

For households, the monthly roll cart charge would go up about 5%, from $50.96 to $53.51, and the $7 senior discount would stay. Curbside bulk item pickup would go from $20 to $50 per item.

For businesses, the increase depends on dumpster size and how often it's emptied, according to the agenda packet. A 2-yard bin emptied once a week would go from about $347 to $416 a month. An 8-yard bin emptied four times a week would go from about $4,840 to about $6,910.

"We don't have a lot of room to actually negotiate on prices because they're our only bidder," Borough Manager Aimee Williams told the Assembly in September. A second company was interested but dropped out after a pre-proposal meeting, borough staff said last week.

Alaska Waste, which Waste Connections bought in 2012, lists service in communities from Ketchikan to Nome, including Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau.

The company said inflation has risen about 24% since 2020, while its Kodiak rates rose about 11% because of limits in the current contract. It said the new business rates are based on container size and pickup frequency instead of average tons per customer, which it said reduces how much smaller and larger customers subsidize each other.

After the first year, rates would rise each July 1 by any increase in a federal consumer price index for garbage and trash. Alaska Waste could also pass along documented increases in disposal fees, taxes or costs from new rules. It could ask for more if its operating costs change unusually, and end the contract on 90 days' notice if the borough says no. The borough could end the contract early only if Alaska Waste defaults.

At a work session last week, Assembly Member Jeremiah Gardner asked whether there was any room to negotiate on commercial rates. "Going up 43%, I don't care how much your business makes, that's gonna hurt," he said. Assembly Member Scott Smiley, who served on the committee that worked on the contract, said, "Prices are up, but so is everything else in the world."

The new contract would start July 1, 2027. The Assembly meets at 6:30 pm Thursday, and residents can comment during the meeting.