Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration is proposing that Oahu residents be charged $10 a month for garbage pickup, a service that historically has been free.

A bill calling for the charge was submitted to the City Council Wednesday afternoon.

It costs the city more than $50 a month to pick up trash from each location every month, the administration said in a release Wednesday afternoon.

The $10 fee, which would begin next January, would only apply to those currently getting city pick-up, not those who pay for private haulers.

One of the reasons for the proposal is to clear up “discrepancies between various groups on Oahu,” a press release said. “For example, some nonprofits pay fees for trash pickup while others do not. Businesses in locations that require special equipment pay for the service while others do not. The proposed city fee will serve to clean up the discrepancies.”

The release noted that the City and County of Honolulu is the only one of the four counties that does not charge a fee for refuse service pickup.

Kauai County residents pay $12 a month while Maui County residents pay $18. Hawaii County does not offer public trash pickup.

On Oahu, residents get regular refuse picked up once a week, and either yard waste or recyclable material pickup a second day.