San Diego homeowners may not have to pay as much as they thought for trash pickup.
A new report determined improved services could be delivered for $47.59 per month rather than the $53 estimated cost released in February, city officials said on Wednesday.
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WATCH HEREThat cost is for single-family homes that use 95-gallon bins. The price would be lower for those using the smaller 35-gallon containers.
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SIGN UP San Diego’s Environmental Services Division has been crunching numbers to find the best way to improve services to residents as they move to start billing them for a service they’ve grown accustomed to getting without a direct bill.
Residents voted to pass Measure B in 2022, which gave the city the green light to charge for pickup at single-family homes.
Now, though, some critics like former California assemblymember Lori Saldana are questioning why, "when we voted on this proposal, there were no hard numbers available. There were estimates that started around $20 per month and now it’s double what they told us,” Saldana said.
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Saldana called it a case of bait-and-switch.
“Now here we are, two years later, and as many of us feared, the rates are far exceeding what they said,” Saldana said.
Saldana and other homeowners said it's not fair for people who don’t generate much trash to have to pay the same amount as those who do.
Even with the adjusted price, San Diegans will pay more for trash collection than people in surrounding cities, many of which have private services like EDCO or Republic.
Council will also get a report from the Office of Independent Budget Analyst that showed that trash collection fees could drop even lower if some services were cut back or eliminated altogether.
For example, eliminating bulky item pick-ups and missed-collections crew would cut fees, as would trimming the electric vehicle pilot program aimed at powering the city’s fleet of garbage trucks. With those cuts and several others, the cost to homeowners could drop to $42.72, according to the IBA.
The new report, with its lower rates, will be presented to city council on Monday, when it will vote on whether to proceed with a hearing before finalizing the amount. Residents would have the opportunity to make their objections known if and when that hearing is held.
