At its last meeting, Cambridge City Commissioners approved an amendment extending the city’s solid waste agreement with Chesapeake Waste Industries, LLC, and adopted a related rate increase that will take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
City Manager Glenn Steckman told the Commissioners that Chesapeake’s charge to the city is increasing from $17.99 per customer to $19.09, and the city’s monthly bill to residents will rise from roughly $18.25 to $19.35 when the city’s existing 26-cent administrative fee is included. The new monthly charge for an additional garbage can will be $1.75, and the 26-cent administrative fee will remain in place.
Commissioner Shay Lewis-Sisco asked why the city chose to exercise the extension option rather than seek bids earlier. Steckman said the city had a three-year agreement with one-year renewal options, and he believed there was not enough time to issue a full bid for a more extended contract. He also noted that the last time the city bid out the service, it received only one bidder, and county dumping fees have risen.
Lewis-Sisco said she has received complaints from constituents about interactions with Chesapeake Waste and argued the city should be more strategic about contracting so residents are not paying more without improved service. She also objected to the immediacy of the rate hike, suggesting a later start date, such as March 2026, to give residents, especially those on fixed incomes, time to adjust household budgets.
Steckman acknowledged service concerns and said the city has not always been following contract practices, including expectations about how complaints were routed and shared back with the city.
He added that the city also discovered a long-running discrepancy in billing for second trash cans that, over time, amounted to lost revenue. He said the administration intends to bid out a longer, five-year contract with higher expectations, but emphasized that bringing the service in-house would cost more. “Right now, Chesapeake can do it cheaper than we can,” he said.
The council approved the contract amendment. The rate resolution also passed, with Lewis-Sisco casting the lone no vote.
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