Poll: new $11/month trash fee per unit
If you own property in the City of St. Louis you are probably aware of the new trash collection fee:
Mayor Francis Slay has signed a new $11-a-month fee for trash pick-up in the city.
This is the first time time residents will have to pay an additional fee for the service, which was previously funded with tax dollars from the city’s general revenue. But bulk pick-up and yard waste are included, as is single-stream recycling, a new service.
The fee, which will be included on water bills, is charged per unit. Opponents said it would hit elderly residents the hardest, especially those who may live in a two-family building they own. Water rates also went up 12 percent on July 1. (Source: St. Louis Public Radio)
Many are not pleased, others say it is a fair way to help offset a major budget shortfall.
The city struggled for a way to avoid charging for trash collection, said Barbara Geisman, executive director of development for the mayor’s office. But with the city facing a serious budget shortfall and with officials wanting to add a citywide recycling program, that wasn’t possible, she said.
In alleys, new blue containers for recyclables would join yard waste containers and containers for trash.
“You can put your cans and your paper and your glass all in that blue dumpster,” Geisman said.
The existing twice-a-week trash pickup, weekly yard waste pickup during spring, summer and fall and monthly bulk refuse pickup would continue.
The program would affect about 139,000 houses, apartments and condominiums. Buildings that now have private pickup would not be affected. (Source: Suburban Journals)
Condo associations, like mine, have always paid for private trash collection and recycling. The poll this week is trying to get a sense of how you, the reader, feels about the issue. The poll is located at the top of the sidebar to the right.
– Steve Patterson
I actually am a big fan of this because it makes it so much easier to recycle! If recycling is not so hard to do I think more people will do it!
My condo association has been able to reduce our trash disposal costs because so many recycle.
More cities that used to have “free” trash pick-up have had to move towards now charging a fee. With the budget cuts during this economy it is understandable even if it will take more out of my budget each month. The fact that I now will be able to recycle curbside vs. having to take the items to the center every month is great news. I know that now I will definitely be more conscious about recycling ALL of the eligible items since they'll be picked up weekly.
I recycle now for free, so having to pay for it kinda smarts, but as long as everyone cooperates, it's a good thing. But on a selfish tip, I fear I will now have two trash bins on the other side of my fence, and dealing with the yard waste dumpster has been quite a challenge, already.
Oh, and if City Hall would stop handing out tax breaks to large corporations maybe there'd be more money in the budget to not mess with these services.
If the city would like to reduce costs without burdening citizens then simply charge the $11 fee to people for curbside recycling and reduce trash pickup to one day a week.
I think you have it backwards. If you going to require a fee for either trash or recycling, then charge only for trash to encourage more recycling. Progressive cities, like Portland, have tiered rates for trash, where households with smaller trash cans are charged less than those with large containers. I wouldn't expect that from STL though, which is about 25 years behind west coast cities when it comes to recycling (i.e., no curbside single-stream for everyone until 2010 instead of 1985)
Tiered pricing works with individual containers. How do you propose implementing it with shared dumpsters? (One of the attractions of city life is not having to remember to wheel ou the trash can once a week.)
One, this is just a tax increase. Call it a fee, but it's still more money out of our pockets, along with higher bills for water, gas and electricity. My personal revenues have been down for the last couple of years, like many other people's. The city needs to cut back, not look for new revenues.
Two, trash affects everyone. If the city threatened to cut back on social services or employee pensions or libraries or rec center hours or the number of aldermen, instead of trash, most of us would've said, “So, what, do it!”, since it would not impact (most of) us directly.
Three, from everything I've read, we're being sold a shell game. The end result will be trash picked up once a week, recycling picked up once a week and yard waste picked up once a week (the same three pickups we get now). This wouldn't be so bad if the recycling component had been better thought through, but the P-D stated that the new $800 recycling dumpsters will have locking tops with holes for cans and bottle and slots for cardboard! People are inherently lazy. Motivated, committed recyclers will stand out in their alley dropping in one can or bottle at a time. But most people will just say, “Screw this!” and dump their recycling in the regular trash bin! The end result will be a bunch of underused $800 recycling bins AND the same number of P.O.'ed constituents!
Four, this will negatively impact housing affordability, even for renters. Landlords will pass this fee on through higher rents.
And five, this fee will be forever. If and when the economy improves, and sales tax and earnings tax revenues return to previous levels, we'll still be paying this “fee”.
I moved back to my hometown of St. Louis after living in Bethlehem, PA, for 4 years, where there is no city pick-up. Our landlord paid for private pick-up, and we were allowed 1 bag of trash per week. This generally wasn't too much of a problem, except when we were doing a major cleaning/purge, or when we moved in/moved out — then we had to “illegally” throw our trash bags away by the dark of the moon in business-owned dumpsters. I am glad to live in a place where the city handles the trash, and I don't mind paying a bit for it — $11.00 a month is fair. I think in multi-unit buildings, landlords should pass the cost on to tenants — I've paid much more for sewer/trash pick-up in the past.
i'm excited about having convenient recycling ( i currenlty save mine up all week and then drive it to the bins by the firestation at pestalozzi/jefferson.
and i have no problem paying for trash, but when they justify it with “all of the other municipalities around st louis pay for trash service” i'm tempted to counter with, “but they don't pay a 1% income tax”. so, if trash is no longer free, what exactly is the 1% tax going to?
Does anyone know when the recycling bins will actually be put out?
Even when I was still living in the City and not only coming in every weekend, I seriously took out my bag of trash every other week. If something was really smelly then yes right into the dumpster it went. However, most of my waste was able to be composted and/or recycled because I made choices to avoid individually packaged goods, etc. Even though it stinks to pay the $11, my hope is 1. people begin to make better purchasing choices, 2. make better recycling choices, and 3. my fees help take care of the City.
whoops, sorry Steve, double post
As an inner-ring suburb resident, I see that fee as more than fair. I pay, on average, about $1000 more a year in property taxes than a City resident for the services that my family receives. On top of that, I pay close to $15 per month for once-weekly trash and recycling pick up. That does not include lawn waste, which I pay an additional fee for. $11/mo is a great deal for trash, recycling and yard waste pick up.
Steve- In a future post, how about addressing the lack of water meters in the City? That has economic implications and environmental implications.
net increase is about $20 per unit, not easy for lower income persons, but landlords (b00) will have to raise rents somewhat to cover this.
I grew up in the rockies and still have a little cabin there. We have to drive our trash and recycling to the landfill, which is only open 4x a week and pay $5.00 for up to three bags of trash and recycling is free. 11.00 a month is a bargain! The yard waste dumpsters are great and have a huge impact on the amount of crap we send to the landfill.
Dumpsters are amazing and easy and one of the things I like best about living in the city – I'm thrilled we'll have recycling dumpsters and am happy to pay. I still can't believe we got curbside in the cay area in the mid 80s though and its just now coming to STL.