The City of Chandler contracts with a private hauler for fully-automated solid waste collection and recycling services for residential customers and City facilities. The City owns a municipal solid waste landfill and contracts for daily landfill operations. The City’s solid waste program is funded through monthly refuse charges for residential customers, one-time system development fees billed to new residential customers and landfill tipping fees.
The City needed a five-year financial model to determine solid waste and recycling collection rates, development fees, and landfill tipping fees to ensure adequate funding of the City’s solid waste enterprise fund.
HF&H Solutions
In order to meet the City’s objectives, HF&H:
Met with City staff and reviewed background documentation to understand the solid waste operations fund organization, financial statement, and existing budget model;
Developed data collection forms for the City to report its financial and operating assumptions, and projected expenditures;
Reviewed and evaluated capital expenditure plans to be incorporated into the solid waste rate model;
Designed and developed the solid waste rate model (Excel) and analyzed the results;
Reviewed the rate model with City staff and updated the rate model based on new information;
Developed rate model documentation, and provided it along with the electronic data file for use by the City.
Results
The HF&H solid waste rate model allowed City staff to evaluate the five-year financial projections and determine that planned rate increases appeared to be sufficient to fund the solid waste operation without extraordinary adjustments in the rates;
The model allows the City to adjust variables and assumptions and evaluate the effect of those changes on the projected results, allowing the City to determine the potential rate impact of expanded or new services.
