By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint
For the past 100 years, an ordinance has prohibited the City of San Diego from charging single family homes for trash collection. However, that rule, titled the 1919 Peoples Ordinance, was amended in 2022 by voters, giving the Environmental Services Department (ESD) a green light to start determining a rate to charge residents.
The potential new fees would apply to eligible single-family homes and multi-family residences with four or fewer residences on a single lot. Currently, the City services over 285,000 residential property owners for free each week. According to the 2024 General Fund expenditures, ESD spends $74 million annually on collection services. This cost could be diverted to other means if residents started paying a fee.
Back in February, the City agreed to sign off on a whopping $4.5 million contract for consulting firm, HDR Engineering, Inc to come up with a Cost of Service Study, which uses analysis and community feedback to determine a reasonable monthly trash service rate.
“The Cost of Service Study will involve a multifaceted approach to ensure the City is able to make well informed decisions that reflect the feedback of the community,” a staff report reads.
In order to facilitate this outreach goal, the firm has teamed up with ESD to roll out a series of open-house workshops to begin in Council Districts 4, 8, and 9. The workshops, such as the one hosted at the Malcolm X Library on Tuesday, are set up by a variety of stop and go stations where residents can engage and provide feedback on:
- Potential ways to make trash and recycling collection more efficient and cost-effective
- Public insights and preferences
- The cost to collect and manage trash and recycling from single-family and small multi-family residential properties with four or fewer units
- Opportunities for new or enhanced collection services
- Options for the City to recover the costs of residential waste and recycling collection services
There is a timeline in place for this process. After the public workshops are wrapped up, City Council and the Environment Committee will be presented with an informational update on public feedback in September. By the end of the year, the Cost of Service Study is slated to be complete, in which a calculated monthly trash rate will be presented for the council to consider. If council approves, mailers will be sent out to impacted homes to notify residents of the potential change. A 45 day protest period will ensue, in which residents can submit written protests to the City if they are against the imposed rates.
The final decision will be brought back to council in the Summer, if passed, rollout is estimated to begin in July 2025.
According to the Assistant Director of Environmental Services Jeremy Bauer, the team working on this project is also considering providing subsidized service for low income residents.
“Should the City proceed with approving a fee, we would love to provide options for the City Council to consider for assistance programs as well,” Bauer says.
Bauer and other employees at the Malcolm X Library workshop, remained tight-lipped on what the monthly price is anticipated to be for residents, saying that it will all depend on what type of feedback they receive from the community.
If a fee were to be imposed, there are also enhancements to services that are being weighed, such as increase recycling pickup to every week, changing the size of a trash bin if a resident needs a bigger or smaller one, and bulky item pickup.
The remaining workshop forums, will be held at the following locations:
- Monday, Aug.12: Mira Mesa Library
- Tuesday, Aug.13: Mission Valley Library
- Monday, Aug. 19: Hills-Hillcrest Knox Library
- Monday, Aug. 26: Point Loma Library
- Tuesday, Aug 27: Serra Mesa-Kearny Library
- Tuesday, Sept. 3: Scripps Miramar Ranch Library
- Monday Sept. 9: La Jolla/ Riford Library
All workshops are from 5:30-7:00 p.m. A virtual workshop will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 24.
To learn more about the proposed rates and enhancements to your city trash services go to: cleangreensd.org
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