Waste Management Authority Proposes $360 Annual Garbage Collection Fee to Be Added to Property Taxes

The Waste Management Authority seeks PSC approval for a $360 annual garbage collection fee to offset $20 million in costs. Lawmakers debate fairness, potential impacts on renters, and whether the fee should vary based on service levels and property type.

The V.I. Waste Management Authority has announced its intention to charge an annual fee of $360 to each household to generate funds for the collection of solid waste across the territory. The first step of the process will begin in March, when WMA will present its proposal to the Public Services Commission, according to the authority’s interim executive director, Daryl Griffith.

Friday, informed lawmakers that the current cost for garbage collection on St. Croix is $6.5 million. This amount covers house-to-house, bin site, and convenience center collection, as well as collection in public housing, government agencies, schools, and green waste disposal. The same services cost $3.9 million in St. Thomas. In St. John, WMA incurs costs to transport garbage by barge to the Bovoni Landfill totaling $2.8 million. Along with salaries and benefits, solid waste collection costs the authority $19,622,000 each year.

Faced with that $20 million bill each year, WMA now hopes that charging a fee attached to property taxes will help the authority become more self-sustaining, a long-awaited goal. “The Virgin Islands is the only jurisdiction that does not charge for garbage collection, and we can no longer afford not to do so,” Mr. Griffith contended. The implementation of a garbage collection fee is “designed to cover the cost of solid waste garbage collection throughout the entire territory,” he said, adding that the new fee would cover “the services that you're currently getting for free, but even better.”