Huntington Beach Postpones Vote on Proposed Trash Collection Fees

The Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday postponed a vote on a proposed trash collection fee for residents and scheduled the issue for a July 18 special study session.

The trash collection fee, which has not been charged since 1970 in the city, has been proposed to offset an increase in fees at county dumps.

The county Board of Supervisors recently raised dump fees from $6.15 to $9.50 a ton, effective Jan. 1, 1989. The board also approved a second increase to $11 a ton as of July 1, 1989.

About 45,000 mostly single-family households would pay the new rubbish collection fee. About 25% of the city’s residents already pay trash pickup fees, City Administrator Paul Cook said.

Tustin and Newport Beach are the only cities in Orange County whose residents do not pay trash collection fees.

The trash collection fee was proposed by city staff members in anticipation of the county’s rate hike and “also to come up with funds for capital improvements” such as rebuilding the city’s wave-damaged pier, Cook said.

At $8.25 a month, the new trash fee would generate an extra $3 million a year for such improvement projects, Cook added. But he said a $2 trash fee would cover the county increase.

Some who oppose the new fee complained Tuesday night that the city replaced trash fees with a utility tax in 1970 and that any new trash fees would amount to charging residents twice for the service.