From UC Peeps
The official proposed monthly trash collection fees are out and, while they are down slightly from the initial $53/month, they are still higher that other cities in the county.
City officials have said they will mail out protest cards beginning the week of April 21st to each of the estimated 233,000 households that would pay the new trash tax. It might require you to put an Assessed Parcel Number (APN) on your protest slip. (If you don’t see it on the envelope or the material you receive from the City, keep your property tax bill handy because that will have the APN.)
If a majority of households — roughly 117,000 — submit a protest card before the public hearing scheduled for June 9th, the new fees can’t be imposed under state law. You will want to inspect your mail carefully in the coming weeks, because the City will purposely make this ballot appear like junk mail in the hope you simply toss it out. They are desperate to make homeowners make up for the $258.2 million budget deficit created by the Gloria Administration.
So don’t be fooled! Get your envelope, stamp and APN ready to mail back the ballot as soon as you receive it in the mail.
We received notification yesterday for trash fees and noted that we will also need to put our property APN # on the form or it will not be complete. Nice little touch to foul the count. Who can you trust in government? Don’t forget your APN# if it’s handy.
The Notice of proposed fee was included as a support document for the 4/14/25 City Council Meeting. It will be entitled Notice of Public Hearing. It is 8 pages long – not sure how that will ultimately appear (a fold-out, 8 1/2 x 11? – dunno), but please don’t call them Protest Cards. Yes, by Calif. Constitution provisions, the fee payors have the right to Protest the fee. On one page of the Notice of Public Hearing, there is a small section that can be used to complete, sign and mail in. It is basically a statement “I oppose the proposed solid waste fee”. Be sure your address is complete – an APN too – or both, make sure your name can be read (print and sign). You’ll need to address it, put a stamp on it.
It’s under the guise of fee it’s actually TRASH TAX if you default on property taxes city can impound you HOME. Water bill they shut off your water , Gas bill they shut of service..City strips you from your home.
San Diego homeowners haven’t paid trash removal fees because a century-old city ordinance, known as the People’s Ordinance, previously prohibited the city from charging for trash pickup for single-family homes and small apartment complexes. However, in 2022, voters approved Measure B, which amended the ordinance, allowing the city to implement a fee.
Now, many homeowners who have not paid a SINGLE SOLITARY CENT for MANY DECADES to have their garbage disposed of, are belly aching that they finally have to pay a fee, and trying to OVERTURN THE WILL OF VOTERS who passed this Measure in 2022 !
Condominium owners have been paying for their trash removal for decades, It’s about time that all San Diego residents have to contribute!
do you work for the CITY?
TIME FOR REPEAL
OF THE PEOPLE’S ORDINANCE
SUMMARY
The People’s Ordinance (Ordinance) was enacted by a vote of the people in 1919. The
2008/2009 San Diego County Grand Jury (Grand Jury) concludes that the Ordinance has
outlived its usefulness in a 21st Century society. It is a costly program that the City of
San Diego (City) can no longer afford.
The City’s cost for general trash pickup and disposal is approximately $37 million per
year. Additional related costs to the City include $6.9 million per year in recycling fees
paid at the Miramar Landfill,1 and $8.8 million for curbside pickup of recyclables and
green waste. Thus the total annual cost to the City for all trash and recycling services
provided without charge to San Diego residents is $52.7 million per year. According to
the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA), even this total likely understates the true cost
because it does not account for legal, financial and other city-wide administrative support
expenses.
The Ordinance is inequitable because it provides no-fee trash collection and disposal to
some citizens and requires other citizens to pay for the service.
The repeal of the Ordinance would allow the City to impose fees for trash services in a
manner that would provide economic incentives for citizens to recycle and reduce the
amount of waste they send to the City’s landfill.
For these reasons, the Grand Jury recommends that the City Council place a measure on
the ballot to repeal the Ordinance, and consider imposing a variable-rate trash service fee
once the Ordinance is repealed. …
[Hey Gary, you posted a HUGE comment with pages and pages which we cannot accommodate — Sorry — You just need to provide a link and not copy the entire report, mi amigo.]
CoUNTY GRAND JURY 2008/2009 (filed April 7, 2009)
Instead of forcing single-household property owners to pay additional property tax, a more equitable solution would be to require homeowners to contract with private companies for trash pickup. Most apartment houses and condominiums employ private trash collectors that include Republic, EDCO, Ware Disposal, and Waste Management.
This change would allow the city to lay off its trash collectors, avoid buying new trash trucks, and eliminate maintenance cost of those trucks. By reducing the number of employees, the city would also eliminate the cost of health insurance, and pension funding currently being paid under union contracts. These millions in savings would go a long way toward closing the current fiscal deficit.
This system could be phased in gradually neighborhood by neighborhood. As surplus city trash collectors are furloughed, private contractor would probably hire them because of their experience. A few could be retained to investigate complaints about people who refuse to have their trash taken away.
Only competition keeps prices reasonable. Homeowners should have the right to shop for any service that collects their trash and disposes of it in any legal landfill or recycling facility. If trash collection is left in the clutches of a city monopoly, trash fees will continue to rise until they reach the level of San Jose ($160 per month) or more.