(The Center Square) – Spokane residents might end up paying a new $2.75 monthly surcharge on top of two garbage rate increases beginning in 2027 to comply with Washington state’s climate mandates.
Public Works Director Marlene Feist proposed increasing garbage collection rates by 3.25% annually in 2027 and 2028 during a city council meeting on Tuesday. The $2.75 fee, which increases to $9 for commercial customers, would appear as a separate line to pay for compliance costs with the state’s Climate Commitment Act.
Feist said the rate hike would help cover the Public Works Division’s costs, with the climate fees paying for about $3 million in annual carbon allowances under the cap-and-trade program for 2027 and 2028.
“The concern that I hear from lots of folks is just rates have gone up recently in price,” Councilmember Zack Zappone said Tuesday. “There’s a lot of price sensitivity, and so we really want to be mindful that we’re looking at lots of options of being [fiscally] efficient, just like we are across the rest of the city.”
Just two weeks ago, Feist proposed increasing other utility rates by 3.5% annually in 2027 and 2028.
The first hike would increase a single-family customer’s monthly bill for water, sewer, stormwater and capital charges from about $102 to roughly $105.56 before water usage and garbage collection. That next increase in 2028 would raise the monthly bill even further, before the separate 21.5% utility tax.
Feist didn’t present a sample bill showing the combined effect of the garbage collection rate increases and CCA surcharges. Based on the proposals, a customer with a 60-gallon can’s monthly solid-waste bill could rise from $45.20 to about $50 in 2027, about $57 annually, including that climate surcharge.
In 2028, the combined total could reach approximately $51.87, or $6.67 more per month than current amounts, before the other proposed utility rate increases from earlier this month and monthly water usage fees.
The council will consider adopting the various rate changes this fall after hearing community feedback.
Councilmember Michael Cathcart told Feist on Tuesday that he wants reassurance that the climate fee will remain a separate line item on monthly utility bills rather than just being implemented voluntarily.
“I would like to see us pass an ordinance that essentially requires that [fee to] be a separate line item because it’s nice that we’re doing it for now voluntarily,” Cathcart said Tuesday, “but into the future, if you weren’t here or others, I would like to see that continue on as a mandatory aspect of the billing.”
The CCA fees are tied to the city’s Waste-to-Energy facility; local leaders previously placed compliance costs at roughly $4 million to $8 million annually and warned ratepayers could see their bills rise 20%.
State lawmakers stepped in this year after another attempt stalled in 2025, this time providing relief through a delayed compliance schedule. The bill they approved reduces the annual compliance costs to roughly $3 million beginning in 2028, but Feist says the city needs to have the money on hand first.
The council previously received estimates from a company to upgrade the WTE facility with hardware capable of capturing carbon emissions to comply with the CCA without allowances. However, it would have cost Spokane more than $200 million as the officials continue to face ongoing budget shortfalls.
“It was it was cost prohibitive, frankly,” Feist said, “but we’re looking at a second technology that’s in place on a Waste-to-Energy plant in Japan, and we’re going to see what they might be able to do.”
Feist plans to return to present examples of where her division is finding efficiencies to reduce costs in a future meeting as the council prepares to receive budget projections on Thursday for another deficit.
