Garbage Fee Up Sharply. Waste management costs have increased by 600 percent in two years.

• In November last year, the waste collection fee in Kamień Pomorski was increased from PLN 8.50 per cubic meter of water used to PLN 12 per cubic meter. A lot, by 40 percent.
• As explained, the rates have not been changed since 2021, while the costs of waste collection and management have been regularly increasing during this time.
• This resulted in a huge deficit. And consequently, an increase in the price of waste collection.

In 2021, the deficit in waste management in Kamień Pomorski amounted to PLN 230,000, a year later it was PLN 1.8 million, and in 2023 it jumped to PLN 3.6 million! In 2024 it was to exceed PLN 4.1 million - hence the decision to increase.

"Increasing the basic rate to PLN 12 will not eliminate the deficit, but it will limit its growth. Revenues according to the new rate will increase to approximately PLN 4.3 million and reduce the deficit by approximately PLN 1.3 million while maintaining costs at the level of 2024," the commune explained at the time.

The above data sparked a heated discussion and, at the request of the opposition club "Ziemia Kamieńska", the city council commissioned an audit commission to check the causes of the deficit. After six months, the audit report was presented.

The commission emphasizes that the mayor has repeatedly proposed adjusting waste fee rates to actual expenses. "It was common knowledge that there was a significant increase in minimum wage rates, fuel and energy costs, and waste management rates. These were increases of several dozen percent over the years analyzed," the commission wrote.

It found no irregularities with the law in the matter of the amount of fees charged and expenses related to waste management in the Kamień Pomorski commune. No irregularities were found in the implementation of tasks resulting from the commune's obligation - writes the portal kamień.plus.

According to the minutes, if the mayor's proposals were met with understanding by the councilors, there would be a chance to reduce the deficit. According to the commission, the analyzed data show how the lack of gradual fee increases has affected the increase in the deficit in waste management. The minutes also state that the unfavorable situation in waste management is influenced by the significant increase in the mass of waste in the last two years, especially in the summer season - writes kamien.plus.

Although, in the opinion of the commission, municipal waste management in the commune is carried out correctly and in accordance with applicable law, the commission presented a whole list of recommendations, including the introduction of greater control over PSZOK, extending the communal waste collection system to entrepreneurs, and introducing monitoring on vehicles in order to better control the collected waste and check the correctness of waste segregation.

Some of the injured, however, did not agree with the statement contained in the minutes that the main reason for the increase in the deficit in waste management is the significant increase in costs while maintaining waste fees at a constant level.

As the councillors emphasise - writes kamien.plus - in two years the deficit has increased by 600%, which cannot be justified by inflation, the increase in the minimum wage and the jump in prices of goods and services. They added that increasing waste collection fees eliminates the effect, not the cause of the increase in the deficit.