City Council Approves Trash Fee Increase

Redondo Beach residents will see an increase in their trash fees starting July 1, the City Council decided Tuesday night.

The new solid waste refuse rate for a single-family residence will go up 2.05 percent to $14.38 per month. The rate for a commercial three-yard container will increase from $99.15 to $101.77 per month and the rate for a six-unit residential building with a three-yard container will increase from $102.24 to $104.53 per month.

Even with the hike, Redondo Beach's trash fee for a single-family residence is  one of the lowest in the South Bay.

Consolidated Disposal Service requested the increase in April, and the public was given 45 days to protest.

Consolidated said the increase was needed to offset rising costs for landfills and other disposal facilities, as well as for labor and health care, said acting Public Works director Tom Shea.

According to Proposition 218, which passed in 1996, residents have a right to protest increases in property-related fees. If the city clerk's office had received  written protests by more than 50 percent of property owners (approximately 10,700 in Redondo's case) by the end of Tuesday's hearing, the increases wouldn't have been adopted. City Clerk Eleanor Manzano told the  council that she had received 52 protests.

No members of the public spoke up during the hearing, and the decision was made in less than 15 minutes.