Businesses in the city of San Fernando may start paying extra for unpaid trash bills. In June, the San Fernando City Council voted to place liens on commercial customers with delinquent trash bills prior to Jan. 1 from Consolidated Disposal Services LLC, also known as Republic Services.
The move comes in a year when the waste management company hiked its trash-collection rates for both commercial and residential clients in the area. Following a statewide mandate requiring every jurisdiction to provide organic waste collection, Republic Services increased its rates on Jan. 1 to pay for the new service’s costs.
According to multiple councilmembers, residents are complaining about the increased costs, but the city needed to account for a growing number of unpaid bills for the city’s contractor.
“There’s many residents that are paying their fee, their bills,” vice mayor Mary Mendoza said. “And now they are going to have to compensate for those that are not paying them. So I do support liens.”
On June 20 the City Council voted 4-0 to place liens — claims against assets typically used as collateral for a debt — on commercial properties.
Unpaid trash bills have been an ongoing problem for the City of San Fernando. Republic Services provided a list of delinquent accounts in a report to the city. The report details 656 accounts with almost $26,000 in unpaid fees as of as of June 14. Of these accounts, approximately a fifth are commercial customers.
The cost for trash collection for businesses vary, but under the new rate, basic level-services for the average business costs around $248 per month.
According to Republic Services staff who were present at the June 20 council meeting, the increased costs cover the purchase of new trucks and organic waste bins provided to the company’s clients. In phase one of the organic waste collection rollout the company distributed bins to 182 businesses in the area, and only six refused to take them.
With increased pressure from their constituency on raised prices, councilmembers are scrutinizing the rate hikes they previously approved when extending Republic Service’s contract with the city for three more years on Aug. 15, 2022.
“That’s my biggest gripe with all of this,” councilmember Joel Fajardo said. “The costs are still very hard to justify … I am a little suspicious without having any evidence of why the costs went up so high.”
The city has had a contract with Republic Services since 2013. The company provides solid waste, reuse and recycling services, as well as bulky item pick-up services.
There is a public hearing scheduled for Aug. 7 for commercial customers with delinquencies with Republic Services prior to Jan. 1.