By Lisa Mortensen
Here is a copy of the 8-page notice that will be delivered to all property taxpayers who receive city trash service in San Diego.
Please read the highlighted portions of information that will provide the basic instruction and where to deliver the protest vote. You can mail it or hand-deliver to:
Office of the City Clerk
202 C Street – MS 2T
San Diego, CA 92101
~The protest slip is on page 7 of the material you will receive. It appears in tear off form but you may want to use scissors to remove it.
~It requires your name, property address (that will be on the envelope of the 8-page notice) and your signature.
~All protest ballots must be received by the City Clerk by 2pm (PDT) on June 9th, 2025.
Heads up for the upcoming material because every vote counts! PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL, POST ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA, AND SPREAD THE WORD EVERYWHERE YOU GO!
Thank you. This is what everyone needs to know. Notice that the Important Information About Your rights is in the smallest font size, and on the last page of the trash fee “notice”. Please read this “important information” It is the essence of the purpose of Prop 218, Right to Vote on Taxes Act – your Constitutional rights. So much wrong with this Notice – I’m sending it to the H. Jarvis Taxpayer Assn and hope they will bring legal action.
Thanks for posting this. When Joe La Cava batted away citizen concerns at a Town Hall meeting in La Jolla…, essentially stonewalling the question about “Why doesn’t San Diego put this out to bid?”…? With his answer that “San Diego is in the trash business! (IOW “End of discussion!”) I understood this stance to be in obeyance to the local unions.
Thank you Lisa! Instructional video here:
https://youtu.be/88z0_WsqNtA
And a copy of the form in PDF here:
http://bit.ly/4jAjhF3
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2025-04/measure-b-prop-218-mailer.pdf
I’ve seen gripes that this is picking on single family homeowners.
This is a new tax on EVERY resident, owners and renters alike, who live in a 1-4 unit place. These estimates on the number of single family homes are irrelevant, because we have almost as many additional units that are in a 2-4 unit complex and required to use the city trash service.
These units make up most of OB, and they’re mostly renters. You’re dreaming if you think the property owner is going to absorb those costs.
If they’re going to charge a trash fee they have to do all the work no more easy trash pick-up they must bring the trash cans up to curb and dump trash and put back in its place if they’re going to charge a fee to drive a truck and sit on their ass all day and push buttons let them do some real manual labor.
FYI, my son-in-law worked for a recycling/ trash company and I can assure you that he didn’t just sit on his ass all day and push buttons; it was hard work, constantly moving, looking at the clock, being precise and definitely real manual labor.
We already sort the trash In each bin make sure there not over filling etc then were bring them from there location near homes to curbside make sure they have enough room for a trash truck to pass by push a couple of buttons that puts hydraulic machines in motions will looking at a screen and continue there route all I am saying if there going to charge they should should bring out the trash can out from home use there trucks to unload them and put them back in place,there a bigger question we should be asking as San Diego residents what the real reason theres a budget crisis or poor management of San Diego officials is the real problem.
My home is titled under my family trust, and the notice came addressed to the trust. Does anybody know how I fill out the form given the fact that the ownership is not in my actual name? That is, do I fill out the form in my name or the name of the trust or ?
If you are a trustee then you can sign. If you want to be extra diligent you can sign “Jane Doe, trustee of the trust.”
Good info, will do. I got the Notice of Public Hearing yesterday. It looks different from the one posted above and is only 6 pages long. The protest form is on page 6.
Thanks!
My friend who was a mailman told me this was sent bulk mail. She also said that most people throw those away. Was this done by design? Also disappointing that protest form is on Page 6 of 6! Also note that the APN number is on the envelope at least making that easier to find.
The Notice is pretty clear and straightforward. It explains things pretty well. The envelope return address is
The City of SAN DIEGO
Office of the City Clerk
202 C St., MS 2T
which isn’t a sender that I think property owners (or anyone!) should ever ignore! It could be from the City about any number of issues that the recipient needs to read..
The main complaint I have is that the simple protest action of filling out the form on page 6 is buried.
The word “protest” first appears out of the blue in the first paragraph on page 1 under a large-font heading “Public Hearing Information.” It is used in the context of Councilmembers hearing and considering oral testimony/written materials under Prop 218 protest tabulating procedures. This SHOULD be the paragraph where it is made clear that a protest form is included in this notice on page 6. But no. Pages 2, 3, 4, and most of page 5 go into many details about the fee. On page 5, there is a subparagraph about our right to protest. Following that, on page 6, the form appears at page top. But there is no heading! “PROTEST FORM” would have been a great header, but no, it’s not there. Nowhere is “HOW TO PROTEST” written as a topic heading.
As for the APN being included on the outside of the envelope over the property owner name and address, I was very surprised! California State Law in effect Dec 2024 disallows publicly coupling an APN to owner name/address:
” Effective December 9, 2024
Changes to Official Record Search Due to California state law (Assembly Bill 1785) – California Public Records Act, the Assessor Parcel Number (APN) search functionality is no longer available in our online Official Record Search. APN searches remain available only at our in-person kiosks conveniently located at our five offices across the County of San Diego.”
That’s why the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk web page no longer allows looking up records or inclusion in search results of anything that shows and correlates APN/owner/address online. The Treasurer-Tax Collector online search page will allow use of APN to search, but any document retrieved will show only that APN, no owner name/address.
Fill out your protest forms and mail them!
you bet it was done by design- this city council and mayor are so shady it is so madning – they should be ashamed of themselves!! They are hoping people through them away- so please go to neighbors adn/or door to door in you neighborhood to verify they send in their Opposition responds.
have not received the form to fill out. how can I get one
Scroll up to the April 18 comment by Marty Graham, who has kindly provided a pdf link to the notice.
You can screenshot/print the little segment of the notice that is the protest form.
Or just type out a form yourself, like this:
I, ________________________________, oppose adoption of the proposed solid waste management fee.
Assessor’s Parcel Number or Address: _____________________________________
Signature: __________________________________________________________
Honesty – I agree – the most pertinent information and one of the purposes of the Notice (our right to protest and the effect of a majority vote) is on pg. 5 of 6. In the last paragraph, again, in convoluted terms, tucked among irrelevant facts (televised on TV, information about meeting access, oral comments — FINALLY “If, at the close of the public hearing, written protests against the fee are not presented by a majority of the parcels that would be subject to the proposed fee, the City Council will consider and may adopt a resolution authorizing the proposed fee.”
These are your rights per Cal. Const. art. XIIID sec 6:
“(2) The agency shall conduct a public hearing upon the proposed fee or charge not less than 45 days after mailing the notice of the proposed fee or charge to the record owners of each identified parcel upon which the fee or charge is proposed for imposition. At the public hearing, the agency shall consider all protests against the proposed fee or charge.
If written protests against the proposed fee or charge are presented by a majority of owners of the identified parcels, the agency shall not impose the fee or charge.”
This should have been stated on Page 1. The notice is as smarmy as Measure B.
I recently bought a new house and I received this letter, however it is addressed to the old owner of the home. Does anyone know if there is a form that can be printed for this? Or how to go about rectifying this clerical error?
I believe that you can request a copy of the grant deed for your house from the title company. Print that out and highlight your name on the deed. Put a post a note on it as well. Stating recent change of ownership and I am the Owner of this property.
For those who have trusts, This is an example of how I would complete it. I, Sylvia D. Smith, trustee of the Sylvia D. smith revocable living trust (the wording for your title is on the front of the envelope).
And then sign on the signature line Sylvia D Smith, Trustee
If anyone needs any help with this. Call me I made copies before completing mine and sending them in.
One very important point. You can do this for every APN or address that you have which qualifies for the City of San Diego Trash pick up. So those who own investment property in the City of San Diego be sure to send in a protest for each APN that qualifies.
Second very important point. This is a rare opportunity for out of state owners to have a voice (protest). This will be foreign to them. So please contact your out of state neighbors and let them know immediately not to discard the information. To be sure to send in a protest. Any property managers out there. This is a great time to do a friendly touch with your property owners and to remind them and give them a voice.
Carole Otterstad
By The Sea Realty
Thank you!
What if there are two of us on our deed? Should we both sign? The form says they count only one person per parcel, but we don’t want them to pull some kind of a bait and switch …
Im in the same situation??
Sorry I’m a bit late commenting and while there are other issues of even more importance going on this is such a boondoggle and typically poorly planed action by the city that it should be protested. While they try to obfuscate the basic nature of this by calling it a “fee” they can’t hide that it’s basically a double tax without voter approval. If it walks like a tax, quacks like a tax and charges like a tax on a property tax bill–yep, it’s a tax not a fee. So now we’ll be paying twice for our trash pickup. The double talk is also confusing in that it gives us three sizes of containers but in reading through the notice it’s apparent we pay the top tier no matter what size containers we use. There is more and I look forward to seeing other reasons to protest–I will be sending in mine before the deadline and demanding a reduction on my property tax in the amount of the new tax. (I also agree that renters are going to pay this too no matter where the bill goes–we all need to stick together.) I’m not generally against tax but this city government has burned all its bridges with me and I don’t trust anything they do.
Is the $36.72 a monthly fee or a yearly fee it doesn’t seem to say that I can find.
Is it possible to opt out completely and just take your trash yourself to the dump?
Jay,
OB RAG: Thank you for documenting Trash “fee” it is a PROPERTY TAX, it is NOT a fee. Property Taxes are high enough and will keep escalating per prior increase in taxes — all to solve Todd Gloria’s improperly managing SD budget funds. I understand it’s not legal to increase trash fees into a Property Tax.
How can all this be published to all the SD areas that will suffer for neglecting this TRASH Property tax increase?
University City distributes a monthly nice color 15+ pages booklet that alerted me.
What is the best way to get over 50% of afflicted- affecting population to recognize the true issue?
Thanks for the info. I do intend to protest. Not so much for paying a fee but for the misrepresentation of the costs as outline in the proposition on which we voted. Do you think there will be a large turn-out at the hearing? Do you know if the 8 page notice has gone out? We have been out of town for a month. Thanks for your help. Love OB. Lived there several times in the past.