Time for homeowners to fight trash fee proposal
We San Diego homeowners can defeat this newly proposed trash collection fee (“Several fee changes coming in San Diego,” La Jolla News Nuggets, Feb. 20, La Jolla Light). We can send the City Council back to square one by utilizing our rights as given to us in Proposition 218 [ed by California voters in 1996].
But we must act in unison during a defined period of time, which will soon be here.
The city must send us a written notice via the U.S. Postal Service outlining the proposed changes to the current trash collection program, including the fees to be assessed to homeowners. That notice must be given to us 45 days prior to a public hearing where we can express our dissatisfaction/disagreement with the proposal.
But we also must reply to the written notice with our “vote” by returning the document provided for us to do so within that 45-day window.
From public commentary and articles on this hot-button issue, it looks like there are about 233,000 affected homeowners who should receive said notice. Prop. 218 requires that 50%-plus-1 must “vote” the proposal down for us to trash (pardon the pun) this egregious scheme.
We were told back in 2022, when Measure B was on the ballot, that the fee to us would be in the range of $23-$29 a month. But now we are told it will be $53 a month, escalating to $65 a month in less than two years. Talk about bait and switch!
Fifty percent of 233,000 equals 116,500. So as you can see, that is a high hurdle. But we can measure up and beat that number if we can hit an 80% negative return, or 186,400.
An overachievement of that magnitude will deliver a message to the council that we are not pleased with the city’s scheme that they are pushing as a “world-class” trash collection system, whatever that is.
Here’s another thought to digest: It sounds like the billing to us homeowners is still not firmed up, i.e., be billed monthly or via the county tax assessor’s property tax billing in October. If the latter is chosen, you can pay your property taxes minus the trash collection fee if you are dissatisfied with your service. But that will result in a lien on your property that could lead to a foreclosure, even though all other property taxes were paid on time.
If you have concerns about this trash fee proposal, I suggest you share this message with city homeowners within your circle of family and friends so together we can achieve the goal of 80% rejection. But be sure to respond to the written notice!
Lou Cumming
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