Orange County Focus is dedicated on Monday to analysis of community news, a look at what’s ahead and the voices of local people. : Reduction in City Trash Rates Won’t Benefit 5,000 Residents-to-Be

City Council members may be raving about a new trash contract that will cut rates almost 25% while improving services, but some 5,000 future citizens of the city won’t have as much to celebrate.

Although North Laguna Hills will officially be annexed to Laguna Hills on July 1, its residents will be paying more money for trash service for at least another five years.

That’s because the county signed a new trash deal with Waste Management Inc. last summer, about three months before county officials agreed to the annexation.

The county’s five-year trash franchise awarded to Waste Management calls for a monthly rate $1.96 higher than the $12 fee stipulated in the city’s new waste contract with Solag Disposal Inc.

The city’s contract, which takes effect July 1, includes a new automated collection system. Not only will residents be able to recycle green waste like lawn clippings, they won’t have to separate their recyclables.

None of these amenities are available under the county contract.

The difference in the trash contracts upset council members, who are still irritated over the county awarding a trash contract a few weeks before Laguna Hills incorporated in 1991.

“It’s just another issue where the county steps in right before the change of government and makes a decision that will affect residents for years to come,” said Mayor Randal J. Bressette.

But Sue Gordon, spokeswoman for the county Integrated Waste Management division, said the department had no idea about the annexation plans being handled by another county agency when it negotiated the new trash contract.

The new contract for about 50,000 households in unincorporated areas, including North Laguna Hills, calls for a $1.88 cut in monthly rates, Gordon noted.

Assistant City Manager Don White said he doesn’t think the county intentionally usurped the city’s right to cut a deal for North Laguna Hills residents.

“I don’t think [the Integrated Waste Management Division] had any idea that we were pursuing annexation,” White said. “I don’t think their departments work closely with each other.”

While not pleased with the higher rates, 19-year North Laguna Hills resident Lenora Shepardson took the news with aplomb.

“We could complain our heads off, but that isn’t going to do anything,” said Shepardson, a real estate agent who is active in community affairs.

“But then, I’m not surprised about much of anything when it comes to the county. This is why we tried so hard to become part of Laguna Hills.”