SANTA ANA : Council Approves Hike in Trash Fee

The City Council has approved a trash fee increase that will cost most residents about $1 more a month.

The council voted 6 to 1 to approve the increase at its Tuesday meeting.

Council members Daniel H. Young, Lisa Mills, Thomas E. Lutz, Robert L. Richardson, Miguel A. Pulido Jr. and Pat McGuigan supported the increase. Councilman Ted R. Moreno opposed it.

The increase is intended to cover the $550,000 cost of expanding the city’s recycling program to the entire city, plus $30,000 to offset the cost of inflation. Retroactive to July 1, most residents’ monthly bills will increase from $11.86 to $12.82, said Teri Cable, administrative services manager for the public works agency.

The city’s contract with Great Western Reclamation calls for a fee increase once the final phase of the recycling program begins, regardless of whether the city passes on the added cost to the consumer. The council’s decision to have residents pay for the cost makes the program self-supporting, Cable said.

As part of the recycling program, residents must keep newspapers separate from the trash and bag their yard and kitchen waste separately. The program is part of the city’s plan for meeting state law designed to reduce the amount of trash taken to landfills, she said.

That law requires that cities reduce their trash output by 25% by 1995 and 50% by 2000. Fines for missing those targets can run as high as $10,000 a day.