City Council members voted down a solid waste fee hike Tuesday, Dec. 3, on a 6-6 tie vote while delaying a vote on proposed Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division rate increases.

The solid waste ordinance, up for third and final reading, is one of several major end-of-term decisions for the current council to make by the end of this month. Otherwise, the decisions will be left for the new council that begins its four-year term in January.

The plan by the administration of Mayor Jim Strickland would have raised the monthly residential solid waste fee from $22.80 to $29.96 effective next month. The fee for senior citizens who qualify based on income would have remained at $7.50.

The administration proposed the fee hike six months after restructuring garbage pickup to keep the once-a-week schedule and go to twice-monthly pick-up of curbside trash, with the city also fronting money to keep equipment running. The city also made solid waste services its own division, removing it from the city Public Works division. At the time, Strickland said it might later result in some kind of fee hike to maintain the more frequent service.

Strickland was in council chambers several times Tuesday before the debate and vote, talking with council chairman Kemp Conrad and council member Reid Hedgepeth. Hedgepeth was absent when the vote was taken and would have been the deciding vote.

“This is part of the process,” city chief operating officer Doug McGowen said after the tie vote. “At this point, we will continue to work with the council to come up with a plan that works for the City of Memphis.”

That process will involve talking with council members about their votes on the matter. While the administration couldn’t reintroduce the same proposal, a council member who voted on the prevailing side could move to reconsider the item at the Dec. 19 meeting before minutes of Tuesday’s meeting are approved.

Whatever happens, McGowen said for the near term the city will continue to provide the better garbage service it has since May.

“Tomorrow, the solid waste trucks will roll on the streets and trash will continue to be collected in the manner it has been,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we have to stop work but we have to work hard to come up with a solution that works going forward into the new year.”

Solid Waste division Director Al Lamar told council members before the vote that without the rate increase and a loan from the city’s general fund, repayable in 10 years when the service is sustained only by the fees, the division couldn’t meet payroll with the new year.

McGowen walked that back after the vote.

“That would be sometime down the road because, to be clear, we do receive revenues from the solid waste fee each month,” he said.

McGowen also ruled out cutting back the service at least for now.

“It’s too early for me to talk about those kinds of options now,” he said. “There is still plenty of work to be done between now and when that comes to fruition.”

Council member Berlin Boyd began the protracted council debate on the matter by asking, “Are we trying to provide all Memphians with a really nice Christmas present?”

He was referring to the combination of solid waste fee hikes and proposed MLGW rate hikes on which the council delayed a vote Tuesday, pushing it to the last council meeting of the year in two weeks.

MLGW is seeking the rate hikes to partially fund a $1 billion upgrade of gas, electric and water infrastructure. This is the third year the utility has sought such a funding of infrastructure. The first two attempts at multi-year rate hikes were voted down by the council, which replaced them with smaller one-year rate hikes.

The solid waste fee is included on monthly MLGW bills.

“We need so much that costs so much at one time, I struggle with this,” said council member Patrice Robinson, who argued during committee sessions earlier in the day that customers would regard the two rate hikes on the same bill as a single financial blow.

Boyd voted no on the fee hike. Robinson vote for it.

Council member Martavius Jones, who was also a yes vote, pointed to the last solid waste fee hike in 2012 and a reduction in the fee in 2014 during the Wharton administration. Jones argued the city should have “managed expectations” better.

Council takes final vote on solid waste fee hike, Fairgrounds development

“I hate to say I told you so but I told you so,” he said. “Government services cost.”

But council member Cheyenne Johnson, who was a no vote, questioned McGowen and Lamar closely on the idea of delaying the fee hike a year or so and using city general fund reserves to keep services at their current level in the interim.

McGowen acknowledged later the link between the fee hike and the proposed MLGW rate hikes.

“I think context is important,” he said before reviewing efforts to change city garbage services starting during his tenure in the Wharton administration when he held a different position but was working on the same issue. That included an attempt at “pay as your throw” services based on the amount of garbage.

A year ago, Strickland declared that the city’s garbage services were “broken” and had to be fixed after several waves of complaints about a private contractor not picking up curbside waste outside recycling bins that resulted in the city terminating the company’s contract. The problem then shifted to the city’s 21-day period for picking up such waste which continued to draw complaints.