by CBS8 Staff / July 10, 2025
Attorneys for 15 property owners who are suing to overturn San Diego’s new trash fees have laid out their argument.
In a newly amended complaint, former city attorney Mike Aguirre and law partner Mia Severson say the city purposely inflated the cost to provide trash collections to generate cash to balance a massive budget deficit.
“The city is in dire financial shape, which we appreciate, and that puts all the pressure in the world on city officials to come up with some way to plug the hole, and that’s what this is,” Aguirre told CBS 8.
Plaintiffs argue that the city used “inflated and hidden” cost projections, including a $5 million consultant study and an operational analysis that added more than $41 million to the budget, to justify the fee.
“We’re not asking for money, we’re not asking for anything draconian,” said Aguirre. “We are just asking for what the public is entitled to.”
The lawsuit contends that the city’s projected costs for fiscal year 2026 nearly double actual recent costs, resulting in a surplus that plaintiffs say will be diverted to cover unrelated budget shortfalls, such as pension debt and deferred maintenance.
The lawsuit claims that the trash fee violates Proposition 218 in the California Constitution by using proceeds to fund general services, failing to account for specific benefits per taxpayer, and exceeding the actual cost of waste collection.
The 15 property owners look to invalidate a 2022 ballot measure that allowed the city to start charging for trash collection separately. Doing so, argued the city, allowed it to enhance services, purchase new trucks, improve customer service, and increase recycling pick-ups. Measure B, as it was presented to voters, won by a narrow 4,000-vote margin.
And while the vote passed, the controversy over the measure intensified after the monthly fee for trash pickup ballooned.
“There are people who can not afford another hundred dollars, they do not have another hundred dollars… and this is hitting them,” Aguirre told CBS 8.
Aguirre said that senior citizens, many living on fixed incomes, would be hit the hardest.
“They’re already trying to decide, can I get these groceries or do I get this medicine? ‘, and then somebody says, ‘Guess what? Twice a year you’re going to get a bill for hundreds of dollars that you’re going to have to pay that you’ve never had to pay before,” he added.
“We want to have the judge say, You didn’t comply with the Constitution, and it has to be set aside, and you’re going to have to come up with a better plan.”
The city council approved the fees last month, with residents paying anywhere from $32.80 to $43.60 per month, depending on the size of their cans.
Click here to calculate the fee for your home.
I researched the company providing these RFID bins which the city says are a necessary part of the program… These guys sell small RFID plugs that can easily be added to existing bins.
The trashing of hundreds of thousands of serviceable bins is grossly irresponsible and wasteful. And it’s my money, and your money…. this ain’t the city’s money they are playing with.
Wow. The entire deal the City has concocted is just a big mess, terribly flawed. Surely it isn’t going anywhere.
Not to mention that the so call city leaders claim to care about the environment, but seemingly have zero problem with thousands of perfectly good bins ending up in a landfill! There is zero common sense in any of them.
The city finally coughed up what I was asking for in my Public Records Request for the actual costs of collection in 2023. They sent me a .pdf that I converted to and Excel spreadsheet. It comes to 236 lines of things that are in “trash collection” costs. I haven’t finished analyzing it but the sheer detail is amazing. It is very possible that what the city says trash collection cost in 2023 is also inflated.
That should be an interesting summary if shared, not only here, but with the various news outlets reporting on it.
My impression is trash collection planning couldn’t pass a financial review. If not charging per bin emptied why spend money on new bins with rfid? If rfid needed for some reason, why buy new bins rather than attach rfids to existing bins.
Why collect an automatic amount with property tax? Do they need a hook to scare folks into paying?
Something is fishy.
I typically have a partly-filled 16 gallon trash bag per week & will not be rolling out a bin with a single bag, no matter how little it costs.
Immoral, unethical, and should be criminal for government to charge people for services not rendered, just as it is illegal for civilians.
Many low-income citizens will pay a heavy price because many citizens were asleep at the wheel. This exorbitant fee was avoidable
except the voters unlike politicians have little tenacity and willpower to fight the good fight. There are midterm city
elections next year and as God made green apples, the voters will make the same mistake again and again. When will we
ever learn?
Thanks to Mike and Meg for being concerned enough to bring this suit. It seeks to shine a light on city funding strategies that we never ever get to see. Thank you for standing up for all of us.
Interesting that smaller recycle and/or organics bins cost you the full size price in your bundle price (when in the past extra blue /green bins were free if you picked them up).
Taxation without representation. This vote was brought to 1,388,000 City of San Diego voters in 2022. The impact was to 230,000 households. Why didn’t the vote only go to the households that were impacted?
I would like to know how they arrived at the cost for the bulky item pickup charge. Since there’s a limit on how many times you can use it, did they calculate the cost based on every one using it the maximum number of times? If they did, it would inflate that cost. It’s unlikely everyone will use it, know about it or be able to access it, especially if you are a renter.
Given the inevitable, does anyone know how to decipher the choices? There are three trash cans: Black, Green, and Blue. There are three sizes, I will call them small, medium, and large. This should be easy, but try the city website. There are only three choices for required sizes. After that, there are 5 choices for add-ons after you have made your original choice. There is a chip embedded in each trash can to prevent theft, I suppose. Who will police the trash cans? What is the penalty if you put paper in organic receptacles? There are many questions left unanswered, even the most basic.
The original vote in 2022 may have occurred because enough people were paying high rent, high property taxes and even paying for trash (they lived in a community that had private trash collection for $40-50/month). Many of these people were newcomers and may have looked around and thought ‘why are those existing residents getting such a good deal?’ They probably didn’t look into the details that much. Wrong or right, San Diego is in high demand as a place to live. Prices are high. We’re lucky we live here.
Not to mention putting the charges on home owners property taxes may actually violate Proposition 13
Elo-Rivera wants transparency, except when it involves the city.
https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2025/07/15/san-diego-rent-utilities-landlords-cost-of-living/
Fixing my error in the wrong story.
How about a class action lawsuit against the City of San Diego for this illegal trash fee?
Great idea. Who is going to hire an attorney, any attorney or attorneys interested?
They are forcing seniors to use large trash cans that are too difficult to push. Accident waiting to happen. We are small condos with very little room for the trash cans we have let alone more. ( we currently share) They said it doesn’t matter they will deliver all of them and its up to us to put them somewhere. We will have bins in everywhere! And how are we suppose to clean those huge green bins? I will fall in it!