SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Between 80,000 and 90,000 San Diego homeowners may have received incorrect trash fees on their property tax bills, with some residents being undercharged and others overcharged.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said city staff notified him Tuesday about the overcharges. He said the information on the city's Environmental Services trash portal was correct, but the data submitted to the county did not match what was in the city's system. The county used the submitted data to generate residents' bills.
"This is obviously unacceptable, and we will address it and fix it quickly," Gloria said.
Gloria said the information on the city's Environmental Services trash portal was correct, but the information that was submitted to the county did not match what was in the city's system.
"It's a matter of the data that was there being changed in the process of being submitted to the county, and this is something that our quality assurance should have caught. It did not catch it, and that's why we have to correct it quickly," Gloria said.
The mayor said the city planned to submit corrected information to the county later Tuesday. He said he was unsure of the total cost to fix the error but committed to making affected residents whole.
"For the folks who are overpaid, we will find a way to make them whole. For the folks who may be underpaid, we will sort that out as well," Gloria said.
Gloria is asking residents to hold off on paying their bill, if possible, while the city and county work to resolve the issue and send out corrected bills. The city is working to resolve the issue by Friday.
Council Member Henry Foster III, who previously voted against the trash fee, called the billing error unacceptable.
"This so-called error. This is unacceptable," Foster said.
Foster said the mistake reflects a need to prioritize residents' interests over expediency.
"I think we need to move from what we think is expedient at certain times and we need to really consider what's in the best interest of our residents and this type of mistake can not be tolerated," Foster said.
The trash fee has faced controversy since the city first voted to approve the monthly charge, including pushback from residents and a lawsuit.
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