Difference Between Laguna Beach and Lake Forest? $66.36 : Garbage fees: It’s the same service from the same firm, but residential bills hinge on where you live.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Laguna Beach or Lake Forest--the trash company still comes once a week and takes away what’s sitting on the curb.

Residents of both cities get separate bins to handle their recyclables, and what’s left of the garbage heads to the county landfills. In fact, just about the only difference that homeowners and apartment dwellers of those two small cities are likely to notice is the bill.

In Laguna Beach, they’re paying the garbage company $99 a year; in Lake Forest, the same service goes for $165.36.

“It’s a pretty good deal,” said Richard Hasenohrl, a finance official in Laguna Beach.

But in Lake Forest, where the garbage contract was inherited from the county when the city was incorporated last year, officials are not quite as pleased. “We’ll be looking at the agreement and trying to get the best deal for the residents” when it comes up for renewal, said Director of Community Development Kathy Graham.

Laguna Beach and Lake Forest, which both use Waste Management Inc. haulers, represent the opposite ends of the broad spectrum in Orange County garbage collection rates, and officials say there are a variety of reasons for the different prices charged in various cities and unincorporated communities: distance from the nearest landfill and different levels of service are the most common.

All cities have once-a-week residential pickup, but some have curbside recycling programs or trash separation at hauler-run transfer stations, while others do not.

In some areas, including Lake Forest, the hauler handles billing for the government, while in other areas, the governments take on that expense themselves.

Cities along the coast have to pay for the cost of moving garbage to the landfills, all four of which are in the eastern reaches of the county. Residents closer to those areas are saved much of that expense.

But the differences don’t end there. One city--Newport Beach--hauls its own trash. Its residents pay $124.48 a year for garbage collection, and that includes the cost of paying a hauler to separate the recyclables from the rest of the trash.

In some cities, the government has taken special steps to shield citizens from rate hikes, chiefly by forcing businesses to subsidize a portion of the residential garbage collection bill.

That’s the case in Laguna Beach, where the advent of a recycling program cost residential users almost nothing. The expense was passed on to businesses.

“As a business owner, I’m for recycling and all that because we’re near the ocean and we need to protect it, but I think the costs ought to be shared equally,” said Becky Carey, owner of a Laguna Beach sporting goods store and the president of the local Chamber of Commerce. “I think that’s the fair way.”

But while Laguna Beach’s approach doesn’t usually please business owners, it does make residents happy. And since there are usually more residents than small-business owners, it’s a strategy that pleases elected officials as well.

The story is different in Yorba Linda, where Taormina Industries picks up the trash and residents pay $162.24, near the top of the scale.

That’s in part because residents get a special recycling operation for yard trimmings, a highly touted program that isn’t cheap but keeps bulky yard waste out of the county landfills. The higher rate also reflects the large homes in Yorba Linda: Big lots mean big yards with plenty of lawn clippings, tree limbs and the like.

Even with varied trash bills throughout the county, the numbers don’t clearly show whether some cities are getting bargains while others are being shortchanged.

“The haulers do a pretty good job of keeping their books private,” said Mark Murray, a spokesman for Californians Against Waste. “It’s easy for local governments, especially smaller ones, to be taken advantage of by garbage haulers.”

Some cities are worried about that, and are beginning to share information so they can strengthen their positions at the rate bargaining table.

“I hadn’t realized there was such a disparity in the numbers from city to city,” said Bill Hodge, executive director of the League of Cities, Orange County division. “There are probably differences in services that explain much of that, but . . . discussions are underway now that will help us to understand this better.”

Trash Collection Fees

Orange County cities charge different rates for trash collection. Some cities include curbside recycling programs or hauler-run recycling as part of the trash bills, while others have no such programs. Annual rates as of Oct. 1, 1991:

Includes City Rate Recycling? Anaheim $131.88 Yes Brea $123.96 Yes Buena Park $121.44 Yes Costa Mesa $140.16 Yes Cypress $140.04 Yes Dana Point $119.88 * Yes Fountain Valley $133.80 No Fullerton $114.60 No Garden Grove $134.64 Yes Huntington Beach $130.68 No Irvine $114.00 Yes Laguna Beach $99.00 Yes Laguna Hills $165.36 Yes Laguna Niguel $131.16 No La Habra $124.92 Yes Lake Forest $165.36 Yes La Palma $138.60 Yes Los Alamitos $143.52 Yes Midway City Sanitary District ** $48.00 No Mission Viejo $142.20 Yes Newport Beach $124.48 Yes Orange $126.00 Yes Placentia $137.16 Yes San Clemente $118.08 Yes San Juan Capistrano $126.84 *Yes Santa Ana $131.76 No Seal Beach $147.00 No Stanton $142.20 Yes Tustin $140.76 Yes Villa Park $154.20 Yes Yorba Linda $162.24 Yes Unincorporated areas Rossmoor $151.68 Yes All other unincorporated areas $165.36 Yes

Note: Rates in the unincorporated areas are higher in part because the hauler does the billing for the county. Cities of Laguna Hills and Lake Forest inherited their contracts from the county when they incorporated.

* Recycling only in 1,000-resident test area

** Midway District includes most of Westminster, all of Midway City, parts of Garden Grove; trash rates do not include sewer charges

Source: Orange County Integrated Waste Management Department