BREA : Recycling Credited for Lesser Rate Hikes

When Brea residents received notice of a $3.01 hike in their monthly trash collection bill last July, they were told that the bill would have been even more if the city was not on the verge of starting a curbside recycling program.

With county landfill fees climbing 55%, officials said, the city had no choice but to pass on an increase, with bills going from $4.92 to $7.93.

This year’s fee hike is more modest--91 cents--but again the city is pointing to the county as the source of the increase. Landfill gate fees account for 71% of the increase, or 65 cents, with the rest going to the contractor who hauls and sorts Brea’s trash.

And again, the city is pointing to the recycling program as a money saver. If the city was not diverting 27% of its trash from landfills, the hike would be even more, Pat McCarron, director of maintainance services, told the council.

At lease one resident was not impressed. Ralph Haas told the council that residential rate payers were carrying an unfair share of the burden. Commercial rates have climbed less than residential rates, Haas said.

Residential rates have increased 61.2% and 11.5% over the last two years, while commercial rates have climbed only 29.6% and 17.4% during the same period, Haas said.

But both McCarron and Councilman Ron Isles said the higher increases in residential rates came because commercial payers were already paying proportionately more than residential payers.

The fee hike, which passed unanimously, went into effect July 1.