'It was too astronomical for us' Latrobe manager says as city rejects garbage bids

Latrobe Council rejected as too costly a proposal by sole bidder County Hauling to collect garbage and recyclable items in the city from 2026 through 2030.

With Monday’s vote, city officials indicated they will seek another round of bids through Oct. 28 for the collection services, noting that at least two other haulers have expressed interest in submitting competing offers.

“We looked at the numbers and decided it was too astronomical for us,” city manager Terry Carcella said of the bid from Rostraver’s County Hauling — even after the city corrected a calculating error to trim collection rates in the first year of the proposed five-year contract.

“We’re going out to bid again to see if we can get a better price going forward,” he said.

Carcella initially reported last month that County Hauling’s 2026 quarterly rates for collecting residents’ garbage at curbside would start at $129 for trash left in bags and at $139 if it is left in larger “toter” containers. With corrected figures, the proposed contract still would have meant rate increases — compared to those charged by current hauler Republic Services — from $69 to $101 for bags (up by 46%) and from $85 to $105 for toters (up 23.5%).

County Hauling also proposed a further rate increase of about 8% for each of the remaining years of the contract, with an option to extend the agreement for two additional years.

Latrobe resident Lou Starry said he was alarmed by the garbage hauling bid figures cited last month.

“That’s kind of steep,” Starry said. “For all the elderly persons who live in Latrobe, a lot of them can’t afford even their food or medication because the (inflation) is so high.”

In that first round of bidding, Carcella said, “We didn’t get a lot of participation, but we still have time yet.”

Republic Services is slated to continue its collection service in 2025. Though the fee charged to the city would go up by 2%, Carcella said Latrobe should be able to absorb that extra cost without passing it along to residents.

Republic balked at bidding on a new five-year contract because company representatives have said they want the majority of customers to use toters. The city is requiring that both bags and toters remain available as options for residents.

As in the first bidding round, haulers in the upcoming round will have the option of targeting their bids for any or all of three collection districts in the city. What is different this time is they will have to submit alternate rates for providing collection of just garbage and not recyclables, along with amounts they will charge for collecting both types of items.

That’s because the city is investigating the relative cost of handling collections with an in-house crew — part of which could be covered for three years if Latrobe lands a federal recycling grant.

Carcella said he’s planning to work with key city staff, including a police officer temporarily reassigned to focus on grant writing, to apply for upcoming funding through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling (SWIFR) program. Latrobe would be competing with other communities across the country for a share of a $40 million pot that would require no local matching amount from recipients.

According to Carcella, it’s the first time in three decades federal recycling grants have been offered at such a level.

“This is one of these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities,” he said. “This doesn’t come up very often.”

Previous grant recipients have captured an average of $4 million each, Carcella said, though it has yet to be determined what amount Latrobe would seek.

If Latrobe’s application is approved, the funding could be applied over three years toward a recycling vehicle as well as any related buildings, sorting equipment and wages and benefits for the portion of time city collection crews would spend on recycling.

Latrobe might be able to use its existing solid waste transfer station off Mission Road in the program.

“We have a leg up because we have a transfer station,” Carcella said. “And we have a leg up because we have the ability to do recycling. We have curbside pickup.”

With coaching from officials with the National League of Cities during remote Zoom sessions, Carcella hopes to be ready when the four-month SWIFR application opens, likely this fall.

He plans to reach out to staff with the Latrobe Community Revitalization Program to help proofread the application. He expects the city would learn the fate of its application by next spring.