COUNTYWIDE : Board to Consider Trash Fee Increase

To pay for state-mandated recycling programs, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider a 5% fee increase on the trash bill of residents in the unincorporated areas.

The fee would raise about $424,000 annually to pay for such projects as a curbside recycling program and hazardous waste and recycling collection centers for residents.

State law requires counties and cities to draft a plan to increase recycling and reduce by 25% the amount of trash generated by 1995, and 50% by 2000. Failure to meet the requirements can result in fines of up to $10,000 a day.

Kay Martin, director of the county Solid Waste Management District, said about 25,000 households would be affected by the increase.

She said she did not know how many businesses would be affected.

Martin said she expects most cities in the county to add such fee increases to pay for recycling programs mandated by the state.

The increase would be the latest in a series of fee hikes approved by the supervisors over the past eight months. The board has raised the cost for registering a car twice since December and has adopted three other fee increases since last fall.