20% Hike in Trash Collection Fees OKd

LA PALMA —  Trash collection fees will go up 20%, to $13.87 a month, beginning April 1.

The City Council approved the rate increase last week at the request of Park Disposal Inc., the city’s trash hauler, which received its last rate increase in January, 1991.

The rate increase was requested to cover higher fees, such as an increase in county dump charges, City Manager Pamela Gibson said.

The $13.87 monthly charge includes $3.59 for Park Disposal, 40 cents for a city franchise fee, $4.57 for the county dump fee, $1.76 for a recycling charge and $3.55 for a city service fee. The service fee pays the city’s costs to process and send trash bills as well as provide water meter readers and street sweepers, Gibson said.

Park Disposal has a 10-year contract with La Palma that expires in 2001. The contract does not include regular price increases except for a minimum 4% increase in the recycling charge, Gibson said. The other costs are reviewed by the city only when the company requests a rate change, she said.