Coastal residents express frustration with city’s new trash fee

SAN DIEGO – In June, the San Diego City Council authorized a trash pickup fee via the county tax roll.

The fee will be included on annual County property tax bills sent to property owners eligible for the services. It will appear as a line item identified as: “SD Solid Waste Mgmt Fee.”

For Fiscal Year 2026, the fee is $523.20, due in two equal installments of $261.60. The first installment is due by Dec. 10, and the second is due by April 10, 2026.

The trash fee has been approved with increases scheduled for the next three years (July 1, 2026; July 1, 2027; and July 1, 2028). Further increases after July 1, 2028, would require additional action from the City Council.

The fee increase starting in 2027 will incorporate service enhancements, including weekly recycling collection and curbside pickup of bulky items.

Given its importance, Times of San Diego conducted a “shout out” via email and social media, soliciting public opinion on the new trash collection fee. We asked readers if they felt the fee was justified, if what was being charged was appropriate, and what they liked/didn’t like about how it’s being rolled out. For those opposed to the trash fee, we asked what they felt the city could have/should have done instead.

Here’s what they had to say:

Carolyn Chase of Pacific Beach felt that transferring trash collection from the city’s general fund to a fee-based system aids in paying for bloated city staff bills.

“The sales job was partly based on saying it would be a great move for renters. However, the many renters living in locations that were served by the city now face rent increases to cover it,” Chase said. “It was/is a golden payback to the unions that run city hall politics these days, and just part of that now includes raising any fees they can come up with.”

Frances O’Neill Zimmerman of La Jolla responded negatively to the new trash fee. “Do I like it? No,” she said. “Was it flawlessly executed? No. Do I have confidence that the fee posted on my property tax bill will be accurate? No.”

“It was a real simple bait and switch,” said Greg Knight of Mission Beach. “Part of the vote was $28 a month. Now that reality sets in, it is almost double. This should all go back to another vote with the ‘real’ fees attached.”

Fellow Mission Beach resident Lee Silber didn’t like the new fee either. “The new trash fees are a financial burden, but it’s more than that,” he said. “It’s the drip, drip, drip of added costs to live in San Diego. I can’t recall the last time a fee or the cost of a service went down. So it’s a cumulative thing.”

Addressing the math involved, PB resident Ryan Stock noted: “The median home price (here) is approximately $1.2 million. A new homeowner purchasing at this price pays an annual property tax of about $14,736, based on the 1.22% tax rate. 

“Contrast this with a homeowner who purchased an identical property 40 years ago at $200,000. Even with the maximum annual assessment increase of 2% allowed under Proposition 13, their current assessed value would be approximately $442,000, resulting in an annual property tax of about $5,429,” Stock said.

“This means the new homeowner is paying 3-5 times more in property taxes than a long-standing neighbor, despite the long-term owner receiving those city benefits for all those years. This system inadvertently places a heavier financial burden on newer residents, effectively subsidizing long-standing property owners. We should not perpetuate an unfair system where newer residents shoulder a disproportionate share of the tax burden,” Stock said.

Of the trash fee, longtime La Jollan Melinda Merryweather responded: “It is so wrong. It would take me three months to fill a container. It takes my neighbor one week. How is that fair? How is it possible to force me to pay this without my permission?”

Chris Olson of PB said voters should have read the “fine print” before voting yes for Measure B. “Do you think voters reading the Measure B title would expect to pay $532 per year for waste management if they voted yes?” he asked. 

Janie Emerson of La Jolla Shores criticized the new trash fee as being a “totally ridiculous waste of time, money, and manpower. If they needed to track the trash pick-up, they could have put computer-readable tags on our current trash bins. Now we are being forced to use cans many of us do not need and will not fill.”

Bonnie Kutch of University City decried the new trash fee, insisting it’s another example of the city not listening to the citizenry. “Those of us who have the temerity to publicly criticize or even question the mayor and council’s positions on a range of issues — destructive high-density development, the bait-and-switch trash fees, and exorbitant parking fees — are in the ‘loathsome’ caste,” she said.

“Our inquiries end up in the circular file. The city has become an autocracy, one where residents’ input and opinions don’t count. A large network of us is setting out to change that once and for all.”