SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego residents are seeing a new $523.20 trash service fee appear on their property tax bills for the first time, causing sticker shock for homeowners across the city.
Talmage resident, Paul Krueger, opened his most recent property tax bill to find the substantial charge.
He's one of about 224,000 homeowners now facing the fee.
"We opened it and we looked and sure enough there it was, $523," Krueger said.
The fee is now forcing residents to reconsider their budgets.
"That's one to three meals in a restaurant, a play, a baseball game," Krueger said. "When we have to pay $500 a year more for this, we'll have to cut back in other places."
The City of San Diego's new trash service fee was announced in a mailer sent out earlier this year.
The City Council voted on the final amount in June. While the fee is about $39 less than the original proposed price, it's still shocking homeowners.
"I thought, 'Wow, ' this is going to be a hardship for tens of thousands of people. Especially the older fixed-income individuals who bought their house a long time ago and have a pretty low property tax," Krueger said.
The City has given residents three bin size options, with monthly costs ranging from $36 to $48.
However, many homeowners who have already been charged haven't received their new bins yet.
"The problem is for the people who chose the 35-gallon bins because a couple 100 dollars a year makes a big difference," Kruger said. "They're going to have to pay the full amount for the first year. It doesn't matter what size you picked."
The City said there are options for homeowners who cannot afford the fee upfront.
One option is to pay the fee in two installments: half in November and the other half in April.
Another option are financial assistance programs. The City said it's currently in development, but planning to offer discounts for low-income households and who are enrolled in one of the following assistance programs:
- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
- CalWORKs
- Medi-Cal
- CalFresh
However, Krueger believes the assistance won't reach everyone who needs it.
"It's not going to help anybody who's middle-class. I know there are people who live in like the wealthiest neighborhoods who are really overextended," Krueger said.
The City also said a credit will be applied next year to homeowners who elected smaller bins. Krueger worries that the timeline might be too late for some residents.
"People in their eighties who inherited their home pay about $1000 in annual property tax. So this is more than half of an addition. I wouldn't be surprised if some people lose their homes," Krueger said.
Krueger is part of a lawsuit where residents are suing the City for charging double the amount voters believed they would pay when they passed Measure B in 2022.
The $523.20 annual fee just so happened to arrive the same week a judge set a trial date for the trash fee lawsuit, scheduled for May 2026.
