HONOLULU- A 2010 report commissioned by the Department of Environmental Services shows the city could recuperate tens of millions of dollars every year by charging Oahu residents for regular trash pickup. The study by R.W. Beck says in fiscal year 2010 the city spent more than $102.2 million to pay for refuse collection, with 34 percent of that amount coming from the general fund. If a monthly fee of $20 per month were instituted, the city could recover $43.5 million in the first year of the program. A $25 per month fee would raise $54.4 million, while a $30 fee would raise revenues of $65.2 million.
Markus Owens, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Services, says the study is currently being updated to account for the city’s island wide recycling program and other initiatives. The updated study is expected in about six months.
Although two of Hawaii’s four counties already charge residents for trash pickup, two members of the Honolulu City Council’s Budget Committee came out in opposition to a solid waste user fee in interviews with Khon2.
"I'm afraid the impact is going to be too much for our residents,” said Budget Committee chair Ann Kobayashi, who represents District 5. “I just don't think this is the right time because people are just struggling to make it.”
“Implementing such a refuse collection fee would be another money grab by the city and for those reasons I would not be able to support (it),” added Councilman Ikaika Anderson, who represents District 3.
During last year’s State of the City speech Mayor Peter Carlisle proposed increasing user fees for certain city services, for instance golf at municipal courses.
On Monday the mayor’s spokeswoman said the administration does not currently support charging residents for garbage pickup, although the door was left open for such a proposal in the future.
“Refuse fees establish a direct connection between use of the service and paying for it. It is a tool to raise revenue used by some Hawai‘i counties and U.S. cities,” Louise Kim McCoy wrote in an email. “However, given other recent increases in utility fees for Honolulu, it is not likely at this time that the Carlisle administration will also introduce refuse fees during the next budget cycle.”
Currently, Maui County charges residents $216 per year for regular trash service, although residents on Lanai pay half that amount. The county says the actual cost of trash pickup is $480 per year for each household.
On Kauai, residents began paying a $6 per month refuse assessment fee and a $6 per month curbside collection fee on July 1 of last year. In September of 2010 County Engineer Donald Fujimoto told The Garden Island newspaper that the actual cost of residential refuse service was $28.65 per month, or more than double the current fees.
The R.W. Beck report commissioned by the City and County of Honolulu says residents would have to pay $49.16 per month to cover the cost of regular trash pickup, which includes green waste and mixed recyclables.
However Anderson argues trash pickup is a core city service already paid for through property taxes, much like police and fire protection.
“If we're going to implement a fee then I would believe that residential real property tax payers would expect that their real property tax rate would come down accordingly,” said the councilman.
Both he and Kobayashi also worry what could happen if some Oahu residents refused to pay for garbage collection, or simply couldn’t afford it.
“I mean what a mess our neighborhoods would be,” said Kobayashi. “It would be a health issue.
“If we were to implement a trash collection fee I think that one could reasonably argue that illegal dumping would increase,” said Anderson.
A trash collection fee was proposed by former Mayor Mufi Hannemann in 2009, but failed to gain traction in the City Council.
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