Save As Your Throw charges taking a hike

Select your bin size this August

by Mark Reaman 

With the Crested Butte Save As Your Throw (SAYT) trash program, expenses are going up and so will your trash bill next year. The town council chose to raise the bin fees the minimum 13% recommended by staff to basically cover town costs for the program and that takes the monthly cost of a 64-gallon bin from $15 to $16.95.

The town initially thought pricing and bin selection by residents would bring in sanitation revenue of about $120,000. That would help subsidize other sanitation-related programs like the Town Cleanup, yard waste pick-up and the residential compost drop off program.

But in a memo to the council at the June 15 council meeting, it was reported that the town expects to net approximately $3,790 in sanitation revenue through the SAYT program for December through August 2026. According to the memo, the lower than anticipated revenues came for a couple of reasons:  1) Waste Management’s contracted annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) cost increases for 2026 were inadvertently not factored in. A fuel surcharge is also being anticipated given rising fuel prices and 2) WM experienced significant delays delivering the new bins and difficulties providing accurate billing data for several months. So, town did not bill for SAYT bins until December instead of the anticipated September.

Customers can adjust their bin size during an enrollment this August and that determines their cost. Final rates are adopted in December with the annual fee schedule. Staff laid out four scenarios to raise money for the other sanitation-related services, but the council saw the minimum 13% increase and stopped there.

“I’m sensitive to increasing the fees 15 to 25%,” said mayor Ian Billick. “Even if it is a small number, I would prefer to be slow on the fee increase.”

“I agree,” said councilmember Kent Cowherd. “I saw the 13% and stopped there.”

Staff said they are assuming approximately 10% of local households will downsize their bins during the 2026 enrollment period. Given the 13% scenario, a 32-gallon bin charge will go from $10.05 a month to $11.36. The 64-gallon bin will go up to $16.96 and the 96-gallon bin charge will increase from $38 per month to $42.94.