BREA : City Increases Fee for Sanitation Services

The monthly rate for city sanitation services has been increased by $1.24.

The City Council voted last week to raise the garbage pickup rate from $10.33 to $11.29 per month and the street sweeping fee from $1.36 to $1.64. The increases, retroactive to Aug. 1, were necessary because of a combination of cost-of-living increases and the costs of keeping up with state mandates, said Pat McCarron, the city’s director of maintenance.

About 26 cents of the garbage pickup fee is attributable to cost-of-living adjustments, with the other 70 cents per month a result of costs of complying with state recycling laws, McCarron said.

The state law requires municipalities to recycle 25% of all garbage by 1995 and 50% by 2000. “Basically, we’re trying to recover all our costs,” McCarron said. “The reporting system requires a lot of time and effort, and we’ve had to put a part-time person on to do that.”

The increase in the street sweeping fee was the first since 1988.

Councilman Glenn G. Parker was the lone dissenter on the rate increases, saying he would like to see the state government change or fund the mandated requirements. He also said he would like to see the city save costs by having its trash contractor, Brea Disposal, work as the customer representative.

“In terms of dollars, it’s not a lot of money. Another $12 a year is not going to break most people,” Parker said. “But it’s the principle of the thing.”