CARY – The village is in the process of reviewing proposals for trash collection services.
Four trash haulers provided proposals and staff anticipates the Village Board will vote on a contract Aug. 21.
“We’ve received very competitive proposals,” said Village Administrator Chris Clark, who did not disclose the companies seeking the village’s contract.
The current deal with Groot Industries ends in November.
The village wants a seven-year contract. After each year, the village wants to cap annual price increases at 2.5 percent, or the consumer price index, whichever is lower. Whoever is awarded the contract will have to provide 65-gallon bins, or totes, for recyclable materials, according to the village’s proposal specifications.
This would expand the village’s recycling program and increase the amount of materials recycled, Clark said. Residents will have the option of going with a 95-gallon tote, 35-gallon tote, or buying trash bags provided by the trash company.
“The choices aren’t changing,” Clark said.
Clark said he does not believe prices will increase in the next contract.
“There’s potential increases year to year, but rates are going down,” Clark said.
The board also decided to go forward with an unlimited landscape waste program, where residents would incrementally pay for the service instead of paying for stickers to throw out landscape waste.
The Village Board also discussed some policy issues for its electrical aggregation issues.
Voters approved a referendum in March that allowed the village to
aggregate electricity accounts in an effort to lower electrical bills.
The village board came to consensus to pursue a two-year contract and require the supplier to have 100 percent green energy.
Requiring 100 percent renewable energy would lead to about $10 more a year per household on the electric bill, said David Hoover, executive director of Northern Illinois Municipal Electric Collaborative, the village’s electrical aggregation consultant.
But electrical aggregation will save the average household an estimated $300 a year, Hoover said.
The state requires 8 percent of energy come from renewable sources.
“I think we should have a higher percentage of renewable energy. I think we want be leaders in the green initiative,” Mayor Thomas Kierna said.
As part of the bid specifications, the residents would not have an early termination fee if they leave the aggregation program. Suppliers also would have to match ComEd’s rates if ComEd had a lower rate in price adjustments in May or September.
“If ComEd matches the rate or goes lower, we would want the residents to enjoy those savings,” Kierna said. “It will give residents the best of all worlds.”
Having a deal longer than two years might lead to higher prices because suppliers don’t know what their cost of electricity will be.
“Typically the longer the contract, the higher the rate, as suppliers pass on the cost, the additional risk of unknown pricing volatility,” village staff said in a memo.
