IRVINE : City Raises Trash Collection Fee by $5

Homeowners will pay just over $5 more per year to have their trash collected under a rate increase approved by the City Council this week.

The $5.04 increase, effective Wednesday, brings the city’s trash pickup fee to $119.04 a year. The increase, which will appear on this fall’s property tax bills, includes the fee for curbside collection of recyclable materials.

The council unanimously granted the 4.4% rate increase Tuesday to Dewey’s Rubbish Service Inc. Under its contract with the city, the hauler is entitled to a rate increase equal to the local Consumer Price Index inflation rate.

Along with raising trash pickup rates, the council voted to end the city’s twice-a-year household hazardous-waste collection days. That will save the city about $150,000 a year, said Cindy Asher, city waste management coordinator.

Instead of having the city collect hazardous household waste, the council voted to work with county officials to build a permanent hazardous materials collection site in Irvine.

The city Finance Commission had urged the council to continue having the collection days during the work to build a permanent collection site. That recommendation would have required the council to raise property taxes by another $3.36 a year per home or to pay for the service from the general fund, city officials said.