Vero Beach raising monthly trash collection fees for residents to pay workers higher salaries

VERO BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — In Vero Beach, monthly trash collection rates are increasing by about a dollar. The city council sealed the deal on Tuesday.

The city says the increase is to help pay for the salaries of garbage collectors, which they are increasing because they are struggling to hire and retain them.

“We had experienced over the last six months a big turnover in our entry-level collector position, and as we looked at those pay scales with the collector, we noticed they were a little lower than some of our entry level jobs,” explained Vero Beach City Manager Monte Falls.

They’ve upped their pay by 8.5 percent, bringing it to $19.61 per hour, which is about $38,000 a year.

Right now, Falls says they’re so short staffed they've had to borrow employees from other areas within the public works department to stay on schedule.

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“We had one guy that quit his first day. He said, 'This is too hard.’ We had guys that would work a week and say, ‘This just isn’t for me,'" Falls told CBS12 News. "When you pull somebody off of another task, you’re pulling in somebody that’s doing grounds maintenance, you’re pulling in somebody that’s doing facilities maintenance, so those tasks get undone.”

The trash fee increase comes after a recent utility hike was approved to help pay for the new wastewater treatment facility in the city.

“Well, they raised the price on everything else. They might as well join the party,” said Robert Sak.

“There are a lot of people who don’t want to work anymore, you know? The salary they get is not worth what they evaluate their time to be worth, so I hear that," added Howard Lindsey.

“I think we’re all suffering from inflation, you know, at this point in time, but we also want our trash collected, so it’s a concession you make to meet our needs,” remarked Terri Henson.

Despite the slight uptick, Falls says the cost of collection remains less than nearby Indian River Shores or Fort Pierce.

He also believes the slightly higher salaries will make a difference.

“We’re hoping that it will stop the turnover," Falls shared. "Aside from it being a very, very physically demanding job, then they’d go to work for us and they’d see another job vacancy in another department, and they would move to that.”

Falls says the rate increase will take effect November 1.