Council committee scraps $10 garbage fee bill

A plan by Mayor Kirk Caldwell to start charging Oahu property owners $10 a month for trash pickup was shot down by the Honolulu City Council Budget Committee Wednesday.

The administration said the plan would have brought in $20 million annually, only a portion of the $100 million the city needs to provide the service.

But Council members said the administration had not provided enough justification for instituting the fee and had not convinced them service would actually be improved.

Council Chairman Ernie Martin, an early opponent of the idea, urged the committee members to reject the plan now to block Caldwell from being able to program the $20 million in project revenues into the budget.

If the committee were to move the bill ahead now and reject it later, the Council would be stuck with needing to make up a $20 million hole in the budget, he said.

Instead, the Caldwell administration will now need to scramble to make up the anticipated revenue by Friday, when it is slated to submit its budget for next year to the Council.