A proposed $5 monthly trash pickup fee is part of City Hall’s annual budget proposal. Here’s everything you need to know.
If you’re anything like me, trash day is a hassle. I almost always forget to take the barrel out the night before and instead have to rush to wheel it to the street in the morning before the truck comes by for collection. Regardless of my inability to do this in a timely fashion, it’s a free service I’m provided by the town I live in, which is common in most places. For Houston residents, though, trash pickup may end up costing you $5 per month in the future.
This small monthly fee is part of the budget proposal announced by City Hall on Tuesday. Mayor John Whitmire said that charging roughly 400,000 residents in Houston for trash pickup could generate up to $24 million each year for the city. He said the proposal has “been coming for years.” Mayor Whitmire added, “My only question is, why didn’t the City of Houston do this a long time ago? It’s a practical solution that’s working in our other cities.”
Currently, trash and recycling pickup is provided for free for residents but is technically funded by local property taxes. And yes, Mayor Whitmire is right, other Texas cities do charge a monthly trash fee, which is actually much higher than Houston’s proposal. Austin residents pay up to $64 every month, San Antonio residents pay $35, and Dallas residents pay $40.
If the proposal is approved, recycling and track pickup would become a city utility when the new fiscal year begins in July. Locals will have the chance to weigh in on the matter during upcoming community meetings before city council members officially vote on the budget proposal.
The $5 fee will not apply if you have your trash picked up through your HOA or if you pay for a private service already to dispose of your garbage and recycling. All other residents who currently use city-issued green recycling barrels or black trash barrels will need to pay the monthly charge if this goes through.
The fee, if approved, could increase over time
Let’s go over a few other details of this proposal. So, if the $5 trash pickup fee is approved, it’ll start being collected this July and will continue on a monthly basis for two fiscal years. There is the potential to increase this by $5 every year after that until residents pay a max fee of $25 per month.
These increases are not guaranteed to happen, though. Houston City Council would need to approve them before anyone was charged more than the initial $5 monthly fee for trash, yard waste, and recycling removal. Chris Hollins, who serves as City Controller, told ABC13 that there should be transparency about what this will actually end up costing folks.
Hollins pointed out that Houstonians are charged a clean city fee with their water bills—adding another, separate monthly charge for garbage removal could prove costly for some. A study funded by the city found that residents should be paying about $32 per month for trash pickup eventually, which is obviously pretty steep.
“Clean city fee cost of service. It starts at $2.50 and goes up to $4, and that’s on top of the garbage fee,” he told the media outlet. Hollins added, “So, if you’re tracking at home. You’ll have a garbage fee of over $35 and a clean city fee of $4. So, together you’re paying about $40, according to this study. Now, why are we lying about that?”
To be clear, that proposed $32 monthly trash collection fee is what the study said should be charged. The city’s current plans are what we previously outlined, and there’s no official indication that they’d stray from this plan. Hollins still understandably thinks it’s an important message to get out there.
For those hoping to weigh in on the matter personally, two upcoming town halls will discuss the budget proposal more in-depth with residents. The first one takes place at the Fonde Community Center on May 16 and the second is a virtual meeting that’ll be held on May 20. City Councilors will officially vote on the matter on June 3.
Click here to sign up for the town halls and to learn more.
