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The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Tuesday to a major increase in trash collection fees, the first rate adjustment in 17 years, with the hike expected to hit customers next month.
Tuesday’s 11-2 vote finalized a months-long process to update fees for the city’s trash collection service, known as the Solid Resources Program.
City officials have said the rate change is necessary to cover organic waste disposal, staff salaries, maintaining vehicles and equipment, as well as inflation.
Council members Monica Rodriguez and Adrin Nazarian voted against the proposed ordinance while members Ysabel Jurado and Curren Price were absent during the vote.
The proposed ordinance now heads to Mayor Karen Bass for consideration. Once signed by the mayor, the ordinance will go into effect after 30 days.
Earlier this year, council members instructed the Bureau of Sanitation and City Attorney’s office to draft the ordinance to update trash collection fees.
Under the fee change, single-family homes and duplex buildings will increase 54% from $36.32 to $55.95, and apartments with three to four units will increase 130% from $24.33 to $55.95. Customers’ bi-monthly bill from the Department of Water and Power will jump to $111.90, for example, once the fees are in effect.
Low-income customers who qualify for the city’s EZ-SAVE or Lifeline programs can receive lower rates.
The rate adjustment will add another 18% increase over the next four fiscal years, reaching $65.93 a month by the 2029-30 fiscal year for single-family homes, duplex buildings and small apartment buildings. Rate adjustments will affect approximately 743,000 households, and another 474,000 residencies that receive bulky item collection services.
Currently, apartment buildings with five and more units pay full price.
The new rates will put the city in line with such neighboring cities as Burbank, Culver City, Long Beach and Santa Monica — but will still be on the lower end.
It took the City Council about six months to finalize the ordinance as it had to comply with Proposition 218, a constitutional amendment limiting the methods by which local governments can levy taxes, fees and charges without taxpayer consent, which required public hearings and an opportunity for taxpayers to oppose the fee, an effort that failed to garner enough signatures.
Bass incorporated the rate increase in her budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year as one part of the many solutions to address a roughly $1 billion deficit. The program has received subsidies from the general fund in past years
— with a $200 million cost this fiscal year alone.
City officials said the rate increase will close this strain on the budget.
The fee increase was previously criticized by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
“The increase in trash fees for residents of Los Angeles and other cities in California is the direct result of a reckless law signed in 2016 by Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate Bill 1383. It mandated a 75% reduction in ‘organic
waste’ from the 2014 level starting in 2025, supposedly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills,” according to a statement from the association.
“The date has arrived, and compliance with the law has significantly increased the cost of trash processing. It’s very effectively reducing the disposable income of Californians. The state government should reconsider ill-advised mandates that are raising costs for cities and their overtaxed residents.”
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