Sewer and trash collection rates may be hiked

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Faced with inflation and rising costs for fuel and

energy, the Sanitary District is considering increasing both sewer and

trash collection rates.

“A number of costs are rising and, by contractual agreement, we have

to address the Consumer Price Index each year and pay our trash hauler

according to the costs of living,” district board member Dan Worthington

said. “The cost of fuel has gone up for them. The increased electrical

cost will not affect the trash hauler much, but will have some effect on

sewer costs.”

Electricity is used to run the 20 pump stations in the sewer system,

he said.

“We’re going to experience new prices for electricity just like every

municipality,” he said. “How much that is going to be, we can only make

an educated guess and try to make sure we are covered. The wrong time to

come back and say we made a mistake would be after we have run out of

money.”

The district has sent out notices about the proposal to increase fees

and will be considering the rate hike at 6 p.m. Aug. 14 at Costa Mesa City Hall at 77 Fair Drive.

Sewer collection rates would be raised from $23.02 to $24.17 annually

for single-family homes, with corresponding increases for other

buildings. The trash collection fee would be raised from $174.50 to

$182.62 per year, according to the notice.

Sewer collection rates have not increased in eight years, although

trash collection fees have been raised since then, and the proposed

increase is not related to the standardized trash container program the

district adopted in April, the notice states.

The district is providing residents with their choice of as many free

green 60- and 90-gallon containers as they need, and 35-gallon containers

will be available for those unable to move the larger cans.

The cans will beautify the city on trash days and will also allow

Costa Mesa Disposal, the city’s trash hauler, to use a semiautomatic

trash truck arm to lift the cans, reducing worker injuries and saving the

company on insurance costs, board members said.

Ernie Feeney, a Costa Mesa resident, said she just doesn’t believe the

trash collection increase is completely unrelated to the program.

“I told you they were going to raise our rates over this at the time,”

she said. “Any time you change from one system to another, the rates seem

to go up. I’m not surprised by this at all.”

Gary Kempinsky, another Costa Mesa resident, said the fees are just

one more inflated cost.

Residents paying higher prices for electricity and fuel themselves are

also paying higher prices for goods to cover businesses’ electricity

costs, he said.

“They’re just jumping on the bandwagon,” he said.

The Mesa Consolidated Water District in May voted against raising its

rates to compensate for inflation but passed an energy surcharge of 10

cents per unit to pay for higher energy bills.

The energy surcharge, which was listed as a separate item on the bill

and will fluctuate depending directly on the cost of electricity, was the

first rate hike in more than five years.