Louisville approves refuse-rate increase as review flags vendor's reporting errors

Louisville approved a new refuse, recycling and compost fee schedule that raises the standard 35-gallon monthly bill from $23.24 to $24.01, effective Sept. 1, according to Resolution No. 79, Series 2026. The resolution is marked “passed and adopted,” but its date field is blank and it does not include a vote tally.

The new 35-gallon refuse rate is $21.66 per month, plus a $2.35 administrative fee. The 77-cent increase adds about $9.24 annually. The $4.96 electric-vehicle premium remains in place and is charged once per account rather than multiplied by container size.

Larger carts cost $40.71 monthly for 65 gallons and $57.41 for 95 gallons, including the administrative fee. Recycling and compost collection remain free for accounts receiving refuse service, up to 95-gallon containers. Additional capacity costs $16.70 monthly for refuse and $3.85 for either recycling or compost.

Other charges include a $0.70 monthly hazardous-materials facility fee and $11.54 monthly for drive-in or cart roll-out service. Those services remain free for residents who need them because of a disability. Residents receive three free cart changes annually; additional changes cost $18.68. The first large-item pickup each quarter is free, excluding Freon-containing appliances and hazardous waste. Residences that do not use city refuse service face a $24.01 minimum monthly charge.

The rate decision came as the city reviewed Republic Services’ performance from September 2025 through June 2026. The Louisville City Council packet addendum says 32 of 1,803 callers hung up before reaching an agent, for a 1.77% abandonment rate. The contract standard is less than 1%.

December and June had the highest monthly abandonment rates, at 3.6% and 4.9%, respectively. Republic’s worst monthly average answer time was 41 seconds, below the contract’s two-minute standard.

The city also identified errors in Republic’s spreadsheets and service reports. An April workbook listed a 6% abandonment rate even though it showed 162 of 163 calls handled. Staff said future calculations should use daily call counts rather than the workbook’s summary cells. Another workbook reported negative diversion rates for May and year to date because of a contaminated recycling-load entry. Staff calculated corrected rates of 46.8% for May and 42.2% for January through June.

During the full 10-month review period, Louisville diverted 43.16% of collected material, rounded in the report to 43.2%, while 2,537.31 tons went to landfill. The city collected 4,464.13 tons overall, and landfill tonnage fell by about 109 tons from the comparable prior-year period. Service reports also combined 453 completed bulky-item requests with 311 actual service failures, producing a misleading total of 764.

All four Louisville collection trucks had been electric since June 2025. Their average uptime was 89.6%, above the contract minimum of 70%, and the report says the electric-vehicle premium was earned in each reported month.

City staff planned to ask Republic to correct the diversion workbook, revise its service-issue reporting, explain the December and June abandonment spikes and identify staffing changes to prevent a recurrence. The packet does not document completed corrections, those explanations, a formal remedy for the contract-standard miss or independent city or third-party verification of the operating data.