As City Council may recall, on February 4, 2014 the second reading of the proposed waste haulers franchise fee ordinance was approved. This ordinance required the City Council to set the percentage and term for franchise fees by resolution. On March 18, 2014 Resolution No. 2014-07 was approved by City Council. The resolution set the initial franchise fee at 10% for the years of 2014 and 2015 and required waste hauling franchise agreements with the City until and unless supplemented by further resolution(s).
The methodology was based operation factors that contributed to the deterioration of the City's roadway system. This assumption was derived from the 2012 Waste Hauler Profile and Assessment Report which identified the Equivalent Single Axle Load (ESAL) of one standard waste hauling dump truck as equivalent to 1000 car trips and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) study which revealed regular starting and especially stopping increase the damage to streets at an accelerated pace when compared to the roadway design criteria associated with the waste hauling dump trucks. Other factors included the City's cost to maintain and operate the yard debris pick up service which largely relieved the private waste haulers from this additional task. The City's Streets and ROW divisional operational and capital budget was taken into consideration due to maintenance activities directly related to the waste haulers operations. Finally, a comparison review with Cities that had an existing franchise fee for waste hauling in place. In 2012 the City of Tampa charged 15%, the City of Tarpon Springs 20%, and the City of Bartow 10% franchise fees for waste hauling services included in the October 14, 2013 Bryant Miller Olive memorandum submitted to City Council concerning proposed waste hauler franchise fee programs.
Subsequent to staffs review of the existing format, franchise fees collected for fiscal year 13/14 were $28,505.94, FY 14/15 $76,389.16, and FY 15/16 $88,871.67. Yard debris amounts collected were approximately the same per FY as well as operating budget amounts. In addition, contact was made by staff with the City of Tampa and the City of Tarpon Springs which continue to have franchise fees at the same percentage rate as the 2012 amounts indicted previously.