Olympia's roughly 26,000 waste utility customers could see bimonthly bills jump from $65.10 to about $81 if the city builds a $40 million-plus maintenance facility on Carpenter Road.

The alternative: hand trash and recycling collection to a private hauler. The City Council takes up that choice at a study session on Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. No public comment will be taken.

The session is the first formal council deliberation since a Tuesday, Aug. 11, meeting where residents and labor representatives spoke overwhelmingly against privatization, as we reported Aug. 13.

What's on the table

The proposed first phase would relocate Waste ReSources operations to a new facility on city-owned land near Martin Way and Carpenter Road, just outside Lacey. The city has already spent $2.6 million preparing the former police firing range site, which is expected to be shovel-ready by year's end.

Financing the project over 30 years would cost about $3 million annually, according to Public Works Director Mark Russell's briefing to the council on April 21. Russell said that translates to a roughly 24% rate increase on the waste portion of utility bills for a typical single-family customer. The Jolt News reported in April that the first-phase price tag is $40.6 million and that council members were divided, with some leaning toward contracting.

A second phase, rebuilding the nearly 50-year-old Public Works center on Eastside Street SE, would add another $50 million, bringing the full project close to $100 million.

Chapman confirmed in an Aug. 14 email to The Olympian that if the council chose to contract out collection, the Carpenter Road facility would not need to be built. The city would still need to address the aging Eastside Street site for remaining Public Works operations.

Labor and resident opposition

At the Aug. 11 meeting, resident Becky Dilba argued that even issuing a formal request for proposals would not be a neutral step. "It commits staff time, signals to private companies that Olympia's trash collection is on the table, and it builds momentum towards what would feel like an inevitable outcome," Dilba said.

That matters locally. Dilba noted that city Waste ReSources crews currently clear illegal dumping downtown, clean up unsanctioned encampments and sweep streets after events, services she said would likely disappear under a private hauler.

Chuck Speece, a labor representative for city workers, warned that privatization would reduce city control over service quality and that workers fear job cuts similar to those during the municipal court transition to Thurston County. Rochelle Martin, president of the Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council, called for the decision to go to voters.

AFSCME Council 2 posted on Instagram on Aug. 14, directing members to sign a union letter opposing the move.

What's next

Mayor Dontae Payne said at the Aug. 11 meeting that the city remains early in the process and no decisions have been made. The next regular council meeting after Tuesday's study session is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. No formal vote on privatization or the Carpenter Road facility has been scheduled.