HUNTINGTON BEACH : Garbage Pickup Fees to Rise $1.35 a Month

Residents will soon be paying $1.35 more a month for garbage pickup.

The City Council this week approved an increase in the residential trash collection and disposal fee. The rate increase, to $16.55 from $15.20, takes effect this month and is partly the result of an annual fee adjustment stipulated in the city’s contract with its waste hauler, Rainbow Disposal Co., said public works director Les M. Jones.

Also, Orange County has increased its landfill gate fee, Jones said, which means the city must pay more to use the facility.

In other matters at Wednesday’s council meeting, about 100 police officers--some carrying placards reading “Safest City: For How Long?”--again raised the issue of pay raises and argued that the city has the money to give them salary increases.

City officials, who are in contract negotiations with the police officers union, turned down a request for a 10.75% salary increase, saying Huntington Beach cannot afford it.

Though police have not had a raise in three years, Councilman Dave Sullivan said Thursday that, in a three-year period ending October, 1993, officers’ pay rose by 19.5%. “How many of the taxpayers have done that well in the last few years?” Sullivan asked.

Sgt. Lloyd Edwards of the Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Assn. said that an accountant hired by the union determined through an audit that the city is “in very good financial condition.”

The union has asked to meet with council members to discuss the audit, he said, but has been rebuffed.

City Administrator Michael T. Uberuaga said he will review the audit and report back to the council.