Pflugerville residents will see a $0.30 cent increase for solid waste disposal services with their next utility bill.  City Council unanimously passed the item during a regular council meeting April 12. “We haven’t raised the rate since 2010—[rates] have remained the same,”Assistant City Manager Lauri Gillam said. Despite an increase of $0.30 per month, city staffers say Pflugerville maintains a relatively low rate for solid waste disposal services.[/caption] In March, council members approved a 2 percent rate hike charged by the service provider, Progressive Waste Solutions of TX, Inc. City staff recommended the measure stating that Progressive’s request ‘does justify their request for a cost adjustment.’ According to a statement previously issued by city officials, the last rate increase was approved by City Council in March 2012; however, the city absorbed the cost and “determined it was a reasonable request, yet kept the increase from residents’ bills by offsetting the cost in the city’s current franchise fee,” the statement read. Fielding a question from Place 5 Councilman Mike Heath, Gillam confirmed the city adheres to competitive bidding practices and includes extensive customer service requirements during the request for proposal process. “I would like to point out, again, we’ve been very successful with our bidding process, and we still have the lowest garbage rate in Central Texas,” Gillam said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job for our citizens in obtaining the rates and the very high level of service that we are managing to provide through our contractor.”