OAKLAND -- On July 1, Oaklanders'
garbage bills are going up -- not
because they'll get better service --
but to help the city raise $3.5
million to balance its budget.
The 6.87 percent increase
translates to a $1.38 a month bump,
from $20.08 to $21.46 for an average
residential customer using a 32-gallon
garbage can. Part of the increase
includes an annual inflation
adjustment.
The money will be used to pay for
litter removal from parks and medians,
sidewalk cleaning, street sweeping and
illegal dumping enforcement.
Those services have historically
been paid from street sweeping
citations and the Landscape and
Lighting Assessment. However, next
fiscal year, $2.8 million in estimated
revenues from street sweeping
citations will instead go to the
city's general fund.
Without a garbage fee hike,
services to keep the city clean would
have to be cut, said Marianna
Marysheva, the city's acting budget
director.
According to city staff, parks and
recreation crews spend one-third of
their time removing trash from medians
and parks. As a result, about $1.4
million of the fee increase will go to
the Park and Recreation budget.
Oakland's garbage bills include
fees for garbage collection, recycling
services, street sweeping, litter
enforcement and illegal dumping.
Although all residents with the
comparably sized bins pay the same
fees, they don't all receive the same
level of recycling service. Recycling
for the eastern half of the city is
provided by Waste Management of
Alameda County and includes bi-weekly
collection of cans, bottles and paper.
Recycling for the northern and
western half of the city is provided
by California Waste Solutions and is
done weekly.
Information provided by the Alameda
County Waste Management Authority
shows that Oakland's monthly rates are
among the highest in Alameda County,
even though half of the city receives
only twice per month recycling of
bottles, cans and paper.
With the exception of Emeryville
and San Leandro, the garbage rates for
other Alameda County cities listed
below include weekly recycling of
bottles, cans and paper, although the
frequency of yard waste collection
varies from every week to every other
week. Nearly all the cities have once
or twice -- and sometimes three times
a year collection of bulky items:
- Berkeley -- $17.22
- Fremont -- $20.18
- Hayward -- $15.87
- Pleasanton -- $20.04
- Piedmont -- $26.55
- San Leandro -- $17.48
- Emeryville -- $10.02
Even San Francisco residents pay
less -- $16.70 per month for a
32-gallon service, which includes
weekly collection of recycling and
yard waste and an environmental
surcharge. San Jose's rates will go up
to $16.40 per month in July, an
increase of $1.40 to help balance that
city's budget deficit.
Christine Ralls, an American Sign
Language interpreter at Laney College,
said she doesn't really mind the
higher rates as long as the money goes
to pay for litter crews, green teams
and to combat illegal dumping.
But others with larger families and
small recycling baskets overflowing
with water, juice and sport drinks
bottles, not to mention newspaper,
junk mail, egg cartons and cereal
boxes, say they need bigger bins if
the collectors come only twice a
month.
"It's a joke, really a
joke," said Margie Benavidez, who
lives on 46th Avenue, where Alameda
County's recycling trucks track down
cans and bottles every other week.
"We're finding we have to take
our recycling to the dump because the
bins are so small."
Benavidez said the small containers
also contribute to the glut of trash
on city streets.
"There are six in our family,
and our garbage can is the standard
size because that is affordable for us
right now. But when I go to the
suburbs and see the size of can they
have ... the suburbs have a larger
size recycling bin than we have for
our garbage. The suburbs get these big
bins and we get this little tiny
bucket."
Councilmember
Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) has
constituents who get weekly service
and some who don't. She abstained from
the vote on the fee increase, which
passed 7-0-1.
"Not
only was this not in our packet over
the weekend, there was no analysis of
the overall impact," she said.
"How does this put us with the
rest of the Bay Area, and why is our
recycling more expensive than nearby
cities?"
Brooke Levin, the city's
environmental services manager, said
her department had to find other
revenue streams to maintain the level
of service residents have come to
expect.
"The City Manager made it
clear that we need additional revenues
for the comprehensive cleanup fund for
city services," she said.
"That's the bottom line and I
can't argue with that. Cities are
struggling and Oakland is one of them
that is looking for revenues."
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