RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — The city of Sparks will be freezing positions, laying off some employees and will do strategic fire station ‘brownouts’ as cost-cutting measures to address an $18 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.
In a council meeting Monday, councilmembers voted to move forward with increasing Waste Management franchise fees as a way to increase additional revenue and limit the cuts slightly.
The franchise fee was already set to increase from 8% to 13%, but the council voted to raise it by an additional 5% to 18%, generating an additional $1.5 million. It will result in a roughly $32 total yearly increase in Waste Management bills for most Sparks residents…