Let’s say your nephew has a truck. He’s a big guy, healthy and strong, and a nice guy, too. He has friends who are similarly hardy and pretty amiable, too. Your fridge has died a rusty, leaky death in your kitchen, and so you call your nephew and his boyz to help you take the big dead thing to the transfer station.

What would you give the crew to mahalo them for their help? Twenty bucks? Nah, probably more than that, right? Maybe a couple of twenties so they can buy lunch, and you’d probably throw in some won bok cabbage from your garden or a loaf of your famous mango bread (recently defrosted since the fridge went kaput.) They really helped you out, yeah?

So why is it hard to think of paying a city crew $10 to move the same fridge?

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s budget for fiscal year 2019 includes a fee for trash pickup plus an additional charge for bulky-item disposal. Instead of regularly scheduled monthly bulky-item days (which, as many can attest, often end up happening irregularly and off schedule), residents would make an appointment to have their appliances or mattresses or termite-eaten bookshelves taken away by city crews. The cost for the service would be $10 per cubic yard. A refrigerator is roughly a cubic yard.

So, less than what you might pay the hypothetical nephew with the truck. (And you know him, that boy, nice kid, but he’s always busy and he doesn’t answer his phone.)

At the same time, Caldwell is proposing a $5 monthly fee for regular trash pickup. And some people cannot handle that.

Senior citizens worry about trash in a way that other generations just don’t understand. Folks who grew up pinching every penny, who never throw away a coffee can or a twist tie, and who composted before that was ever a trend, pay attention to what they throw out in an almost obsessive way. If they’re parting with something, that means it has no usefulness whatsoever or it stinks to high heaven. By the time it hits the outside bin, those folks want it gone forever. And why would they pay money to get rid of something? That feels like throwing $5 in the trash.

No one on Oahu is used to paying for the handy if sometimes intermittent trash pickup, bulky or otherwise. We got spoiled. People will pay $100 a month for sewer fees and not even blink an eye, but $5 for opala? Hoo boy, that’s highway robbery right there.

Then there’s the argument that charging for bulky-item disposal will only lead to illegal dumping. Yeah, but, um, free disposal hasn’t stopped the problem.

Caldwell’s idea makes sense. Using city bond money to help pay for rail, well, that’s a different story. But nobody’s talking about that. They’re worried about five bucks a month to get rid of garbage and 10 bucks to move a fridge.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.