This is really trashy…
I do not think it is fair to the 17% of us who have recycled monthly to be charged the higher fee then have to wait for it to be “corrected”. The City should not start billing people until they have provided the recycling pledge cards. Making this assessment/fee/tax whatever you want to call it as stated in the Toledo Blade retroactive:
The Finkbeiner administration intends to collect the new trash fee retroactive to April 2, which could produce a windfall of $364,500 of additional revenue for the city.
The original starting date was supposed to be May 1.
Is a TRASHY thing to do, how are they going to know who recycled? I have a major issue with people being charged the wrong fee then they have to wait to have it corrected or credited. It should be done right the first time…
UPDATE: It’s stated in the Blade this way:
Mr. Franklin said that when Akron implemented a trash fee of $19 a month, with a $2 discount for recycling, the recycling participation rate jumped from 22 percent to 47 percent.
That does not give an accurate impression – Directly from the City of Akron:
Residential customers currently pay $17.50 monthly for trash pick-up service in the city; for those customers who meet the Homestead Exemption, the cost is $9. Under the new program, a recycling incentive makes it possible for customers’ fees to be reduced: If a residential customer participated in recycling, the rate would be $17. Without recycling, it would be $19. For those who meet the Homestead Exemption, the rate would be $8.80 with recycling and $10.80 without. The “condo” rate would be thrown out, as it is rarely used, Barnett said.
According to the paper the fee will be retroactive but it won’t be billed until July when the next quarterly water bills come out. The recycle pledge cards will be entered into the system before then. The whole thing is ridiculous, this isn’t a trash fee because you have to pay it even if you don’t want the trash services. Thus this is a TAX plain and simple. Once everyone in the city pledges to recycle and doesn’t then the fee won’t bring as much in as they want and the recycle cops will be dispatched, Big Brother pawing through our trash. Oh the horrors!
April 6th, 2007 at 9:39 amI did read that Dave but if they base it on the date you turn in your recycling card that’s not accurate for April for those who recycled in April and those who recycled before April. Unless I missed something and they are going to only charge everyone the $3.00 for April. (possible really sick right now so I apologize in advance for mess ups.)
I hope everyone does pledge to recycle and does it. It would be really interesting to see what would happen with the earnings from recycling, the decreased charges to the landfill and if we had a large majority of those who recycle it could be a great PR tool for the City as to the goal of becoming more Green.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:47 amOh but what a quagmire in the rush for cash when all else failed.
Come July 1, there will be a lot of complaints from a lot of people about the recycling fee.
Had the City Council mustered the nerve to act and not let us get steam rolled we would not be in this mess. But some council members will complain that they did not have the info and so on, then what were the meetings about then?
April 6th, 2007 at 9:52 amAccording to the rule I can put out a single pop can every 4 weeks and get the discount! I think I will start up a business. For $1/month/house I will bring a tiny recycle bin and a single pop can to the front of your house every month.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:55 amThat’s a creative idea.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:58 amMore about Akron;
“Increasing the city’s recycling rate from 30 percent to 43 percent in only a few months, the PAYT program in Akron, Ohio, is already showing results. “People hate the idea at first, but after living with it for a couple months they love it,” said Akron public works manager Paul Barnett, who implemented PAYT in Akron last summer. Nearby Lorain County, Ohio, is now considering a similar program that would limit residents to one standard-sized trashcan per home.”
http://www.epa.gov/docs/epaoswer/non-hw/payt/tools/bulletin/winter-07.htm
April 6th, 2007 at 11:01 amI believe that even though we got the shaft on this deal that it could of been much worse and still could be.
How you ask?
1. The fee could of been $8.
2. Water could of been bumped up a few bucks and no one would of noticed in order to balance out.
3. The trash police could of actually checked on each home for any barrels not put away after the service was performed and handed out the “fine” for not doing so.
This blog is the #1 blog for the city of Toledo – I want to mention something that could be a real money maker. I shop at Aldi on Glendale. That strip of stores has a no parking section in front of each store which makes the whole front of the complex a non parking aloud section because it’s intended for fire purposes “Fire Lane”. It doesn’t matter what time, day, week I visit the store you will always see a minimum of three cars parked right on the lines and letters that states “Fire Lane”. If we were to ticket each jerk-off that did that we would have a huge mound of extra cash that would support many police and firefighters in this city.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:24 amI agree with you on the Aldi’s parking and it would be nice to actually go into that shopping plaza and not see the many cars driven by people who don’t seem to understand what a “NO PARKING” sign means.
But…water and sewage was also increased, before the budget scenario started. link
ps…thanks on the #1 Blog but you are biased…
April 6th, 2007 at 11:37 amI am not!
April 6th, 2007 at 11:43 amI think you are, there seem to be only like 12 people who post here!
April 6th, 2007 at 11:50 amTrue Dave, however most people read and don’t comment and for the sake of full disclosure, “Roman” is my husband – therefore he is biased. From a ranking standpoint Glass City is not the top ranked local blog – my other blog that is more personal in nature with more of a national political focus is the top ranked Toledo blog using technorati. From a visitor standpoint, this blog does probably rank higher in visitor numbers but I’d guess I’m below Toledo Talk and Swamp Bubbles since those are community driven and would naturally have a higher visit rate as opposed to a blog written by one individual.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:03 pmFor those curious on stats – since Glass City was created there have been:
1,098 posts and 6,836 comments – this of course would make it 6,837.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pmcan you count unique visitors?
April 6th, 2007 at 12:43 pmYes, I can count all kinds of things, unique visitors, page views, web hits, which post gets the most hits, search words, etc., I don’t place too much importance on it all since this blog has no marketing/advertising potential where it would have a monetary factor but in looking at March as an example which was the last full month, 177,222 requests, 81,095 page requests, a daily average of 819 unique visitors who spent 6 minutes and thirty seconds per average on the site. 80% of the readers are from this general area of NWO and over half use Buckeye as a provider. The top ranked search word that gets people here is “Toledo”. Since performancing metrics went out of business it’s more difficult for me to pull all my stats together since I have to use the domain tracking and site meter which is less than accurate. Yet, it hasn’t been something I have done much with since the end of peformancing metrics…I should find one that pulls it all together in one format…
April 6th, 2007 at 1:29 pm“3. The trash police could of actually checked on each home for any barrels not put away after the service was performed and handed out the “fine” for not doing so.”
Elaboration, please.
April 6th, 2007 at 1:33 pmI think he means in his could have been worse scenario that the city could start enforcing or placing fines on people who don’t put their garbage/recycling containers away. I’m not sure if we have a fine for that that already in place like the one for putting cans out too early.
April 6th, 2007 at 1:38 pm“I’m not sure if we have a fine for that that already in place like the one for putting cans out too early.”
Yes, there is.
The city does not follow up on it unless someone complains.
Rules with out enforcement are useless
April 6th, 2007 at 1:55 pmThanks, I have not done as much research into all of the various rules and fines that are out there. Rules without enforcement are useless and I suppose that would have been another way for the City to increase money collected would be to enforce what is already on the books. Especially when it comes to those who are repeat offenders which I know you have demonstrated there are quite a few.
April 6th, 2007 at 2:00 pmThe Mayor created the “Rules without enforcement are useless and I suppose that would have been another way for the City to increase money collected would be to enforce what is already on the books.”
The fines are not levied at first, there is a notification process.
But again, the inspectors do not inspect, unless someone calls and complains or the area is part of a sweep.
The Solid Waste Foremen were to be deputized but it appears they still have not been.
The repeat offenders appear like the spring flowers. I have complained about a residence with trash cans that are overflowing and another residence that is piling trash bags on a porch for almost a month, action? Zip, zilch, nada.
Response from the Neighborhoods Department, all the way to both managers, zip, zilch, nada. Interesting to see if it makes a month.
The trash is piled out front and paints a lovely picture of our neighborhood.
Have a look.
http://toledoohioneighborhoodconcerns.com/blog/?blog=2&page=1&paged=2
And the Mayor’s new initiative is the Sweep Toledo Strike Team which is claimed to be rooting out problems. Great new problems when the old problems are not addressed.
April 6th, 2007 at 2:21 pmLisa – I don’t know if your blog host will interface with Google, but I use Google Analytics on another site and it works very well. Very comprehensive and you can state your own filters to grab the info you want or need.
April 6th, 2007 at 5:26 pmCarol, I do use google analytics for my other blogs, Performancing metrics did so much more that I guess I’m spoiled. I agree it is a better pull together than what I’m doing now. Then again, I don’t bother to look at it often for this blog until someone asks me. I should do it while it’s fresh in my mind (smile).
April 6th, 2007 at 5:33 pmI am pleased about Akron’s new recycling bins. They work well and it is great to see so many more people recycling instead of sending it all to the landfill. My biggest complaint is that the city only will recylce plastics #1 and #2. All the rest has to go into regular trash. I’m contemplating a No Impact Man kind of move to only buying things that can go into the blue bins. That means passing up a lot items that only come in other kinds of plastic.
April 6th, 2007 at 6:46 pm“My biggest complaint is that the city only will recylce plastics #1 and #2.”
There are markets for the others but the demand is less at least in this area.
It is something to still not be able to recycle more plastics across the country given the fact the recycling movement is how many decades old,
Are the bins that Akron is using the type on wheels and that recycling trucks pick up and dump into the trucks?
April 7th, 2007 at 7:13 amWith all due respect and for those that have missed the point:
It’s not about garbage, it’s about the $364,500.
Q. What will the Charlatan do with the extra money?
Q. And, now that he’s dumping the flower gardens on the gullible public (along with some mighty draconian rules & regs.), what is he got planned for the cash that “he” is saving there too?
Q. And, when ho tries to spend the purloined cash on say, a bike path, will the citizenry start heating up the tar kettles and begin plucking chickens, for the upcoming festivities?
Oh, there’s more…, Stay tuned.
April 7th, 2007 at 5:48 pmSTOP calling this a trash fee.
1. We have to pay it whether we use trash services or not.
2. It is on our water bill.
3. If we don’t pay it our water gets shut off.
This is just an additional property tax, or if you prefer an huge increase in our already hugely increasing water/sewer bills. It is not a trash fee, however much city council and Carty want it to be.
April 7th, 2007 at 7:10 pmThis entire Council would be placed in the non-working group if they were judged like the dogs they are.
April 9th, 2007 at 11:49 am“Residents who fail to pay the refuse collection fee could have their water service shut off. The city will use an appeals process similar to the one used by its water division should residents dispute their bills, Highsmith said.”
http://www.toledofreepress.com/?id=5271
April 9th, 2007 at 11:53 amI have done a little research and found an interesting section of the Ohio Revised Code. I don’t believe the city has the power to shut your water off for non payment of this “trash” fee. It’s a long section of the code so I won’t copy it here but I did send it to Hooda and will be simplifying it on air. I’ve also e-mailed it to Madigan for his legal opinion.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:32 pmThank you Fred, if Hooda has it on his blog, I’ll link it here and I look forward to hearing what you learn from Madigan.
April 9th, 2007 at 11:21 pm“I have done a little research and found an interesting section of the Ohio Revised Code.”
Can you point us to the url, please.
I wouldn’t be expecting the law director to respond, but who knows, it is so hard to get responses from government center.
Maybe some of the city council who stop by here would be interested in the information.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:32 amFrom what I have been able to review from other cities in Ohio and elsewhere across the country the Trash Fees are viewed as public service or utility and therefor are billed on the other public utitity in most cities, water.
CHAPTER 133
Department of Public Utilities from the City of Toledo Charter.
And;
CHAPTER 963
Garbage, Rubbish and Litter
963.23. Director of Public Service may adopt rules.
The Director of Public Service is hereby authorized and, empowered to make and adopt such rules and regulations as he deems proper and necessary for the implementation of this chapter by the Division of Solid Waste for the better protection of the health, welfare and safety of the City. In doing so, applicable Federal, State and local standards regarding fire prevention, pollution control, public safety, nuisance and health regulations shall be given due consideration.
The Director Of Public Service has the authority to make and change rules.
The City Charter and Codes are here: http://www.amlegal.com/toledo_oh/
April 10th, 2007 at 7:50 amYou will notice there is no mention of any fees other than “water”. There are only two remedies for unpaid bills, neither is a shut off option. State law is very clear on this. I await Mr. Madigan’s, the mayor’s and council’s response.
743.04. Assessment and collection of water rents.
For the purpose of paying the expenses of conducting and managing the waterworks of a municipal corporation, including operating expenses and the costs of permanent improvements, the director of public service or any other city official or body authorized by charter may assess and collect a water rent or charge of sufficient amount and in such manner as he or it determines to be most equitable from all tenements and premises supplied with water. When water rents or charges are not paid when due, the director or other official or body may do either or both of the following:
(A) Certify them, together with any penalties, to the county auditor. The county auditor shall place the certified amount on the real property tax list and duplicate against the property served by the connection if he also receives from the director or other official or body additional certification that the unpaid rents or charges have arisen pursuant to a service contract made directly with an owner who occupies the property served.
The amount placed on the tax list and duplicate shall be a lien on the property served from the date placed on the list and duplicate and shall be collected in the same manner as other taxes, except that, notwithstanding section 323.15 of the Revised Code, a county treasurer shall accept a payment in such amount when separately tendered as payment for the full amount of such unpaid water rents or charges and associated penalties. The lien shall be released immediately upon payment in full of the certified amount. Any amounts collected by the county treasurer under this division shall be immediately placed in the distinct fund established by section 743.06 of the Revised Code.
(B) Collect them by actions at law, in the name of the city from an owner, tenant, or other person who is liable to pay the rents or charges.
Each director or other official or body that assesses water rents or charges shall determine the actual amount of rents due based upon an actual reading of each customer’s meter at least once in each three-month period, and at least quarterly the director or other official or body shall render a bill for the actual amount shown by the meter reading to be due, except estimated bills may be rendered if access to a customer’s meter was unobtainable for a timely reading. Each director or other official or body that assesses water rents or charges shall establish procedures providing fair and reasonable opportunity for resolution of billing disputes.
When property to which water service is provided is about to be sold, any party to the sale or his agent may request the director or other official or body to read the meter at that property and to render within ten days following the date on which the request is made, a final bill for all outstanding rents and charges for water service. Such a request shall be made at least fourteen days prior to the transfer of the title of such property.
At any time prior to a certification under division (A) of this section, the director or other official or body shall accept any partial payment of unpaid water rents or charges, in the amount of ten dollars or more.
.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pmWe must remember when reading statutes and code that there is intent involved.
“963.23. Director of Public Service may adopt rules.
The Director of Public Service is hereby authorized and, empowered to make and adopt such rules and regulations as he deems proper and necessary for the implementation of this chapter by the Division of Solid Waste for the better protection of the health, welfare and safety of the City. In doing so, applicable Federal, State and local standards regarding fire prevention, pollution control, public safety, nuisance and health regulations shall be given due consideration.
While it is correct that state law states one thing, the state law does not mandate what a city, town, village and so on can do.
It allows for leeway for the governance of the city.
If Mr. Madigan responds at all I will bet that he would cite the rulings that allow cities to mandate and legislate on a local level.
If there was flagrant violation of state law that many, a lot, of the cities, town, villages, etc., in Ohio are in violation.
Mr. Madigan also said that the Mayor was not violating first amendment rights also.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:13 pmThe key phrase in your post which I saw also “for the implementation of this chapter by the Division of Solid Waste for the better protection of the health, welfare and safety of the City.” That phrase is specific to the chapter it is included in, and it further says that any decision must take state law into consideration. Also turning water off does not protect the health, welfare or safety of the city. In fact it puts it in danger.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm“…and it further says that any decision must take state law into consideration.”
Yes, that is correct and if state law is silent on the matter with regards to an issue then the city is able to set up a rule.
“Also turning water off does not protect the health, welfare or safety of the city. In fact it puts it in danger.”
Very true and the threat is used to enforce the collection of the trash fee or tax for those that view it that way.
Here are two cities from a Google search.
“Collection of fees shall be made by the Utilities Department as a separate item on each utility bill. The fees shall be assessed against the person or firm in whose name the utility bill is listed.”
http://www.piquaoh.org/rates_refuse.htm
“The recycling is billed on the water bill. The current rate is $1.50 per month (billed quarterly).”
http://www.ci.vandalia.oh.us/Trash.cfm
April 10th, 2007 at 1:24 pmAny response from the City’s Law Director?
April 19th, 2007 at 10:19 am