Ventura Increases Trash Pickup Fees for Business

For the second consecutive year, the Ventura City Council has raised trash collection rates for businesses, but voted to keep fees the same for residential customers.

By a 3-2 vote early Tuesday, the City Council increased trash pickup rates by 8.4% for commercial customers and 2.6% for industrial customers. Last year, the council boosted the average garbage rate for businesses by 14.7%.

Councilman Gary Tuttle voted against the increase, saying that he expects dumping fees at landfills to decrease in six months. Mayor Gregory L. Carson voted against the measure because he said residential customers should receive an increase this year rather than face a bigger hike next year.

Council members Todd Collart, Jim Monahan and Cathy Bean voted for the increase upon staff recommendations that the rate hike is needed to pay for a new recycling program. Councilmen Tom Buford was absent and Jack Tingstrom abstained from the vote.

Beginning tomorrow, the average commercial bill, $66.76 per month, will increase to $72.37. The delivery and drop-off costs for industrial customers will cost $3.50 extra.

City staff members said the 8.4% raise is necessary to pay for future recycling services for businesses across the city. City officials last year said the 14.7% increase was necessary because business rates had stayed the same for two years, and trash hauler E.J. Harrison & Sons faced a loss of up to $648,000 if rates were not raised.

Steve Chase, the city’s environmental coordinator who recommended the increases, said Ventura residents have been doing a good job recycling, but only about 600 of the city’s 7,451 businesses participate in the city recycling program.

Chase said the higher commercial and industrial fees will help subsidize recycling education programs, new plastic refuse barrels for all customers and a pilot program that would allow small businesses to separate their recyclable materials in bags. Merchants will be able to recycle paper, plastic bottles, aluminum, magazines and junk mail.

Because of state mandates, the city is under pressure to recycle more of its garbage, Chase said. Overall, Ventura residents and businesses recycle about 15% of their trash, he said. A state law requires that all California cities and counties reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfills by 25% by 1995 and 50% by 2000.

Jim Barroca, executive director for the Ventura Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview last week that he advocates “a more gradual transition” for businesses to convert to recycling.

Barroca said few merchants can argue against the need for recycling, but noted that recycling can be costly and inconvenient for small business owners.

On Monday, not a single business owner came to protest the increase.

Michael Brown, director of environmental assessment for Patagonia Inc., urged the council to implement a different rate structure that would penalize businesses that do not recycle.

“There is no incentive for businesses to recycle,” said Brown, whose company has been recycling its waste products for years. Patagonia is a clothing manufacturer and one of the largest employers in the city. The company’s recyclable material is picked up for free, and in exchange, E.J. Harrison keeps the material and sells it elsewhere, Brown said.

City officials said they hope to gradually change the commercial rate structure in the next few years to encourage recycling. Altering the rate structure now could triple some businesses’ trash bills, Chase said.

Mayor Carson, who wanted to increase residential bills by 3.2%, warned that residents will face higher costs next year because the council has not raised residential rates for three years. City staff members predicted that the council would have to increase residential rates by at least 9% next year if the council declined to raise rates this year.

Councilman Tuttle, who heads the council’s waste subcommittee, argued against any increase because he thinks dumping fees for landfills will drop in December. If Bailard Landfill, where the city takes its trash, is allowed to operate past December, then tipping fees are expected to decrease, Tuttle said.

If Bailard closes as scheduled, then the city will take its trash to another landfill, where dumping fees are cheaper, Tuttle said.

“I think we’re ignoring a major factor,” Tuttle said, who was pushing for no increase until the landfill issue is resolved.

City officials said they could adjust the rates in six months if tipping fees are reduced.