City Residents Criticize Service Fee Increase

Mayor: Cost of garbage collection has increased more than 100%

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
December 16, 2024
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

(Illustration based on “Republic Services Trash Truck” by Jon Cutrer, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0)

Many McKeesport residents reacted with anger after city council this month voted to increase the annual Municipal Service Fee from $300 to $400.

The fee, payable in quarterly installments, has not been raised for several years. But Mayor Michael Cherepko told council that the cost of trash collection has more than doubled.

“We’ve eaten that cost the last two years,” Cherepko said. “I didn’t think it was right to increase that fee when our garbage collection was poor at times. I didn’t feel comfortable pursuing this increase until our service was satisfactory.”

Following three years during which residents alleged that the previous contractor was skipping houses, missing entire streets or leaving trash in the road, McKeesport returned in 2023 to Big’s Sanitation of Forward Twp. Cherepko said that complaints have dramatically decreased since the switch.

“I will give credit to the company,” he said. “The owner himself is part of the text message chains when we send misses out.”

McKeesport budgeted $1.55 million for sanitation next year. That’s a half-million dollars more than 2022.

Residents took to social media — including the mayor’s Facebook page — to voice their complaints, with some criticizing the administration for not announcing sooner that fees would be going up from $75 to $100 every three months.

“Was there a notice sent out that there was going to be an increase?” one resident wrote. “No, you send (a) postcard that doesn’t always get delivered in a timely manner and we are expected to just comply. Now you have elderly residents scrambling to figure out how to apply for a discount, and others scrambling for this extra expense during a holiday. Shame on you!”

City officials said senior citizens may apply to pay a discounted rate of $80 per quarter. Residents 65 and older should contact the city finance department at (412) 675-5020, ext. 633. Residents must provide proof of their age and their current address.

Municipalities handle garbage collection costs differently. In some boroughs and townships, residents are billed directly by their garbage hauler. Munhall Borough, which operates its own trash collection trucks, charges residents $220 per year. North Versailles Twp. charges $185 per year for trash collection, while Mt. Lebanon charges $316.

North Huntingdon Twp. charges $28.96 per month, or $348 per year. Residents may only put out one trash can, supplied by the waste hauler. For an additional $6.75 per month, residents may put out a second can.

Other communities, such as West Mifflin Borough, include refuse collection in property tax rates. Wilkinsburg Borough, like McKeesport, collects a “Municipal Services Fee.” Wilkinsburg’s fee is $200.

According to the Tribune-Review, many local municipalities are increasing garbage collection fees in 2025, in some cases up to 30 or 40 percent. New Kensington is increasing the cost of garbage collection 73 percent, to $135 per quarter, or $540 per year.

“We don’t set a limit on bags or cans per week like other municipalities tend to do,” Cherepko said. “We know the cost of everything has gone up. But like we discussed last year, ratepayers cannot cover everything, and they certainly shouldn’t cover for those who aren’t paying. This is why we have been diligent in collecting delinquencies and establishing payment plans to increase collections on all that’s due.”

The mayor said the city is trying to hold the line on tax and fee increases, and is cutting costs by bringing the collection of business privilege taxes back in-house, he said.

“Every expense has increased and as everyone knows, there has been a lot of inflation since the pandemic,” Cherepko said. “We’ve had a half-million dollar increase in our workers’ compensation insurance, a $400,000 increase in our pension payments, and a 100 percent increase in the cost of garbage collection, and that’s not counting utility costs and everything else.”

Originally published December 16, 2024.

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