MOORPARK : Trash Fees Increased to Pay for Recycling

The Moorpark City Council has voted to increase the city’s garbage collection fees to pay for expanded recycling programs, despite complaints from the Chamber of Commerce that the additional charges will hurt small businesses.

The council Wednesday unanimously approved increasing fees for residents and businesses beginning July 1.

Fees for single-family houses will increase by $1, to $16.35 per month. For multifamily complexes, monthly bills will go up by 50 cents per housing unit.

And local businesses will have to pay 8% more than their present rates, which vary according to the size of the business.

Carol Hunt, executive director of the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce, told the council that she was concerned that the city hadn’t notified business owners of the planned increase. She said the increase will hurt many small business owners who have been struggling to stay afloat during the recession.

But Councilman Scott Montgomery told Hunt that businesses generate 60% of the city’s solid waste. Yet the fee increases will contribute less than a third of the total costs for the new recycling programs, he said.

Most of the remainder of the costs will be paid by increases in residents’ fees.

Altogether, the increased fees are expected to raise about $130,000 annually, which the city will use for new projects.