Port St. Lucie eyes $36 residential solid waste assessment reduction for next fiscal year

PORT ST. LUCIE— Waste Pro's failure to collect trash here on time may mean property owners could see a roughly $36 reduction on their solid waste assessment next year. 

City Manager Russ Blackburn recommended the one-time credit, which equates to about six weeks of garbage collection services, in his proposed 2022-23 budget. 

City Council is expected to discuss this recommendation in the $728 million budget during a three-day workshop beginning July 20.

Previous coverage: Port St. Lucie likely to give credits to property owners for Waste Pro's poor services

Column: Expect to hear a lot of 'trash talk' in upcoming Port St. Lucie city elections | Opinion

Preliminary tax roll estimates: St. Lucie County property values increase 14% to $29 billion

If approved, more than 81,500 residential customers would pay $379.45 for trash, yard waste and recycling pick up annually beginning next fiscal year — about  $43 less than what the city originally signed off on when it selected FCC Environmental Services Florida to start collecting trash here in September.

The decision to switch from Waste Pro, the city's contracted hauler since 2006, to FCC last month was triggered by missed and late trash collection for years, thousands of complaints and a lawsuit. 

While the solid waste assessment could decrease, residents still would be paying nearly $100 more annually for FCC. 

The credit, according to city officials, was made possible due to new property-tax revenue from increased values, which spiked 19% here this year, according to preliminary estimates released June 1. 

Other major changes once FCC launches service here include:

• Switching from twice-weekly pickup to weekly automated pickup 
• Limiting yard-waste collection to weekly — rather than unlimited pickups — and to 4 cubic yards of yard waste, roughly the size of a 10- to 12-foot conference table.
• Monthly, rather than weekly, bulky-waste collection of less than 2 cubic yards 

Olivia McKelvey is TCPalm's watchdog reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach her at olivia.mckelvey@tcpalm.com, 772-521-4380 and on Twitter @olivia_mckelvey.