{"id":42189,"date":"2022-02-15T23:18:46","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T06:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-considers-idea-of-outsourcing-trash-service\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:05:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:05:50","slug":"cortez-considers-idea-of-outsourcing-trash-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-considers-idea-of-outsourcing-trash-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez considers idea of outsourcing trash service"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The city of Cortez is looking at ideas to save on trash service, including outsourcing to a private company. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

To save costs, the city of Cortez is considering outsourcing its trash service to a private company.<\/p>\n

City Manager Drew Sanders reported to City Council Feb. 8 that the collection service loses money.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about looking for solutions to a problem. It is our fiduciary responsibility to the community. We owe it to the taxpayer to manage their money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sanders said a budget analysis showed the trash service has high maintenance costs.<\/p>\n

In 2021, refuse department costs exceeded revenues by $169,361, Sanders said.<\/p>\n

A lot of the increased costs are from truck maintenance, and two of the trucks need to be replaced at a cost of more than $500,000.<\/p>\n

Further, a series of injuries in the department has increased insurance premiums.<\/p>\n

\u201cRefuse is a dangerous and physical job, and injuries do occur,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

No decision has been made yet, and proposals would face a review.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m open to all options and ideas,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

Whether outsourcing would be more economical won\u2019t be known until private costs are determined, he said.<\/p>\n

Considerable changes would be necessary to make the program more cost-effective, city officials said.<\/p>\n

The trash department has seven full-time employees and a fleet of trash trucks. Another city staff member is budgeted for maintenance.<\/p>\n

The recycling program will remain with the city.<\/p>\n

If the council privatized the trash service, billing would stay with the city. The city would pay a private company for the scope of work, and the city would bill customers.<\/p>\n

Controlling city costs and customer rates is a priority, city officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this goes out to bid, I don\u2019t want a company to come in and instantly raise prices by double or triple. That is a concern for a lot of citizens,\u201d said council member Matt Keefauver.<\/p>\n

Sanders said the contract would ensure that did not occur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing customers would notice is a different-colored truck,\u201d he said in an interview with The Journal.<\/em> \u201cNo decisions have been made. I believe it is important to look for solutions to a problem when it is identified and not ignore it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not clear whether there would be layoffs, Sanders said, or whether employees would be hired by the new company.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr they could be absorbed into a different department with us if they meet standards. There is no guarantee there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

During public comment, trash service supervisor Manny Neves said he and his fellow workers \u201cdid not appreciate\u201d hearing about the plan to outsource the service. When contacted by The Journal,<\/em> he did not want to comment further.<\/p>\n

Cortez Mayor Mike Lavey said it is a \u201ctough issue\u201d anytime city jobs are impacted, and he encouraged efforts to retain the staff.<\/p>\n

The city will continue to examine the problem and present ideas to City Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a difficult circumstance wherein we as a city government have a duty to address problems when we find them, and balance the needs of both employees and taxpayers, a balance that is often very difficult to strike,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Department loses money, city manager says; all options are on the table<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1724,21,28,1922,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-budgets-and-budgeting","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-labor","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85254,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42189\/revisions\/85254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42189"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}