City carefully expands garbage service

Over the last year, a limited push for new solid waste customers has netted Kalispell’s garbage trucks a few extra stops along their routes.

The city’s Public Works Department targeted 386 potential new residential customers in the city, some of them on Northern Lights Boulevard, others in the Northland, Ashley Park and Stratford Village subdivisions.

The goal is to fill in gaps along routes the city already runs and improve the efficiency of a rate-funded solid waste program that collects on average about 9,000 tons of garbage a year.

“We sent out letters to those subdivisions or areas, got responses back and filled in some of those areas,” said Susie Turner, the director of public works.

In its first year, the initiative resulted in 149 new residential accounts.

At a charge of $111 a year for home service, that means about $16,000 in new revenue that increased the city’s total residential service revenues to $639,000 a year.

A change in Montana law approved last year gives Kalispell a much greater ability to take on garbage customers.

Before, Kalispell could not serve annexed areas that were getting private garbage service from Evergreen Disposal for at least five years, and after that window only if 51 percent of residents in the annexed area petitioned the city for service.

Kalispell now can provide residential garbage service to any property within its boundaries at any time.

City Council members told Public Works to create a business plan for the solid waste program, laying out how it will handle new requests for garbage service.

Kalispell has focused on filling in the areas it already serves, where Evergreen Disposal must drive a “disproportionate distance” for just a handful of garbage customers.

That will continue to be the city’s focus, Turner said. “We really are focusing on infill in areas we already are serving, or in areas immediately adjacent or where we’re turning [trucks] around ... It’s a huge benefit for us to get those infill areas.”

Kalispell had a 19.75-percent increase in its commercial service revenues last year, largely because the city added new customers in the hospital area.

Commercial service revenue grew from $191,806 to $229,697, with charges varying based on container size and frequency of collection.

“We have expanded our commercial service, so if anyone is interested they can call Public Works and we can set up a meeting to go through what we can offer,” Turner said.

With seven full-time solid waste employees, three primary and three backup garbage trucks, Kalispell is limited in how far its service area can grow without hiring more workers or adding costly equipment.

For now, the city will continue to try to add those potential customers in its targeted infill areas and accept customers in adjacent areas if it makes economic sense to do so.

“Once we meet that, at about that time then we’ll have to start looking at more personnel, more trucks ... So we do have a little ways to go,” Turner said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.