City Council refuses mayor on garbage fee

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s plan to begin charging Oahu property owners for trash pickup was dumped Wednesday after the City Council Budget Committee said constituents had voiced overwhelming opposition to the plan and that the administration failed to give enough reasons to support it.

Bill 9 would give the mayor the authority to impose a $10-a-month fee on most of the island’s 160,000 households that are on either automated or manual curbside refuse pickup beginning Jan. 1. The proposal also calls for businesses and nonprofit organizations receiving automated collection to pay $75 a month per cart and a $90 deposit per cart; or $314 per 3-cubic-yard front-loader dumpster.

A Caldwell spokesman said the administration will continue to push for passage of the bill and other revenue-raising measures before the Council.

Council members, however, will need of a lot of coaxing.

Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga said her constituents have expressed unhappiness over current solid waste disposal service. She cited the accumulation of bulky items in neighborhoods.

"I think they view the fee as adding insult to injury," she said. "The answer on this one has been a big fat ‘No,’ so I cannot support this measure."

Other Council members expressed similar concerns.

The fee would net about $20 million annually, or about one-fifth the actual cost of providing the service, city Environmental Services Director Lori Kahikina said.

"It’s become clear that we cannot continue to provide the high level of refuse services without cutting back services or increasing revenues," she said.

Kahikina said that while it could be an added burden to homeowners, the fee is "modest and necessary at this time with an approach that is more respectful than raising property taxes."

Council Chairman Ernie Martin urged colleagues to reject the plan in committee so the administration would not be able to program $10 million in projected revenue from the trash fee into next year’s operating budget, which is due to the Council on Friday. If the Council were to reject the trash fee later, members would be stuck with the responsibility of making up for the lost amount, he said.

"Good point," Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said.

According to televised news reports, Kahikina said after the committee vote that the administration may need to consider reducing services in her department, possibly eliminating bulky item pickup.

But Jesse Broder Van Dyke, a spokesman for Caldwell, said eliminating bulky item pickup is just one of many possibilities.

"The mayor will continue to push for full City Council consideration of all revenue bills in order to balance the budget," Broder Van Dyke said. "If the Council chooses to reject the mayor’s revenue proposals, we look forward to seeing their other proposed solutions to balance the budget."

The Council last year shot down Caldwell’s plan to raise the fuel tax to raise revenue for bus service. A separate proposal to raise money by allowing advertisements on the sides of city buses has been placed on hold.

Kobayashi said she has not yet ruled out allowing bus ads, which the administration projects would net as much as $8 million annually.