Sewer, trash fees raised

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District board unanimously approved higher

rates for trash collection and sewer services Thursday, district

assistant manager Thomas Fauth said.

Rates were raised to cover higher volumes of garbage collected and

to meet a mandate from environmental regulators to keep grease out of

sewer lines.

“We’ve experienced a significant increase in the amount of trash

collected,” Fauth said.

In the last five years, the volume of trash hauled by the district

has gone up from about 35,000 tons annually to more than 42,000,

Fauth said. The numbers Fauth quoted represent an increase of almost

17%.

For a single-family home, trash fees went up from $225.86 per year

to $239.41 per year.

In 2002, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

ordered Orange County cities and sewer agencies to reduce sewage

spills. That same year, the sanitary district mandated that new

restaurants inside its boundaries install grease interceptors to trap

oily sludge before it slides into sewer lines. The district also

required restaurants with grease problems to install interceptors.

Thursday, the board followed up on that move by levying a new fee

on its customers. Restaurants serving hot food must now pay $150 per

year in addition to a small increase to their basic sewer charge.

For restaurants serving only cold food, the new fee is $60. The

new fee for residential and industrial sewer users is $2.31. The new

charges went into effect retroactively to July 1 and are assessed

with property tax bills.

The new fees were levied to pay the district’s permitting and

inspection costs related to grease efforts. Fauth said those expenses

are about $172,000 per year.

Friday, sanitary district board president Jim Ferryman said he did

not want to raise fees, but, he said, the district passed the

grease-related charges to customers because it cannot absorb the

costs.

According to the Orange County Healthcare Agency, 63% of Orange

County beach closures between 1999 and 2004 were caused by blocked

sewer pipes. Agency statistics show that grease caused 26% of those

blockages.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at

o7andrew.edwards@latimes.comf7.