Alpine Township contracts with Dragoon Environmental Services (DES) to provide solid waste collection to households and
businesses. Until recently, DES had an exclusive franchise to provide this service in Alpine, which meant that other waste collection
firms could not operate legally in the township. The price per pound of waste collected was regulated at 25 percent above the
average total cost of collection.
Cost dats for the most recent year of operations for DES are as follows:
Administrative cost $ 672,808
Operating costs-trucks 2,150,400
Other collection costs 537,688
Data on customers for the most recent year are as follows:
Number of customers Households Businesses
11,520 2,888
Waste collected (tons) 4,000 12,000
The Township Board of Alpine is considering allowing other private waste haulers to collect waste from businesses but not from
households. Service to businesses from other waste collection firms would not be subject to price regulation. Based on information
from neighboring cities, the price that other private waste collection firms will charge is estimated to be $0.05 per pound (- $100 per
ton).
DES's CEO has approached the board with a proposal to change the way costs are allocated to households and businesses, which will
result in different rates for households and businesses. The CEO proposes that aciministrative costs and truck operating costs be
allocated based on the number of customers and the other collection costs be allocated based on pounds collected. The total costs
allocated to households would then be divided by the estimated number of pounds collected from households to determine the cost
of collection. The rate would then be 25 percent above the cost. The rate for businesses would be determined using the same
calculation.
Required:
a. Based on cost data from the most recent year, what is the price per pound charged by DES for waste collection under the current
system (the same rate for both types of customers)?
b. Based on cost and waste data from the most recent year, what would be the price per pound charged to households and to
businesses by DES for waste collection if the CEO's proposal were accepted?
