The St. James Municipal Utilities Board on Aug. 4 approved a resolution recommending that the St. James City Council adopt a rate and fee increase for solid waste services for residential, small commercial and dumpster customers within city limits.

Last year, the Municipal Utilities Board approved a similar rate increase as a part of a three-year plan to help the city’s Solid Waste Section operate in the black. The fee increase recommended by the board is the second step in the three-year phased price increase for solid waste services. Before last year, rates for solid waste services had not been increased since 2018. The St. James municipal code requires that departments end a fiscal year with positive account balances.

According to a departmental review from St. James Solid Waste Services presented at the Municipal Utilities Board meeting last month, “solid waste is doing well, but they are still showing a negative balance.” The report alleged that the approval of a second-year rate and fee increase would make the department’s ending balance positive and bring it into compliance with municipal code requirements.

In last month’s report, the city’s water and wastewater services also showed a negative balance. Department heads alleged that “the rates are being looked at.”

If the St. James City Council approves the recommended rate increases, then fees for residential and commercial curbside and dumpsters will all see an increase in Fiscal Year 2027, which begins on Oct. 1. Residential curbside service would increase from $17.73 monthly to $18.26, a 53-cent jump. Commercial curbside service would increase from $19.71 to $20.30, a 59-cent jump. Dumpster services would see the largest increase, with the Municipal Utilities Board recommending a 30 percent price jump in the coming fiscal year.

The three-year incremental increase in solid waste services fees is designed to help solid waste services maintain a balanced budget while minimizing the financial strain on the public.

“Last year, we really put it on the residential and on the businesses. This year, we’re putting it more on dumpsters,” said City Administrator Leeann DeMouche. “Every year we’re going to slightly increase. You have to do something to meet those rising costs, but hopefully we can get to a point where those costs are not so hurtful to the public.”

DeMouche added that “the rate increase is barely getting them where they need to be.”

With the resolution approved by the Utilities Board, it will go to the St. James council for approval before being adopted.

In other new business, the board approved a contract with Socket Telecom LLC. If adopted by the council, the contract would enter the city into an agreement with Socket Telecom for work installing pole attachments to electric poles across the city of St James. The attachments would provide the infrastructure for Socket Telecom to build a network of fiber telecommunications lines across the city, which would provide high-speed internet.