Some powerful people are pushing to throw out the trash fee the city of San Diego started charging residents this year.
That includes Richard Bailey, the former mayor of Coronado, as well as Kevin Faulconer, leader of the conservative Lincoln Club Business League and the former mayor of San Diego.
Bailey is collecting signatures to gauge support for a ballot initiative and Airbnb is threatening to help. If successful, it would blow a massive hole in the city’s already-teetering budget.
How did we get here?
Roughly half of San Diego residents live in condos and apartments, and for decades they had to pay for trash services while the city picked up trash from single-family homes for free.
In 2022, voters approved a measure allowing the city to start charging for trash pickup. But when the San Diego City Council announced the actual fee, many people were outraged. That’s because it was nearly double what the city originally estimated.
The city started collecting the fee in September on property tax bills. And this wasn’t the only recent hit to residents’ wallets.
A year of rising fees
The city raised water and parking meter rates, along with a host of other fees on everything from mooring boats to playing basketball in a rec center. And for the first time, the city is planning to charge for parking at Balboa Park.
They’re not done yet either. San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera wants to start charging nonresidents to enter Mission Bay park. And he wants to tax owners of empty second homes and vacation rentals.
That’s when Airbnb thought it may need to hit back. It polled voters on whether they would support repealing the trash fee.
Council response
With Bailey asking for signatures, Elo-Rivera is furious.
“Anyone who suggests this, should be completely ashamed of themselves and should be a pariah in any serious San Diego circle,” he said.
Voice of San Diego asked Councilmember Raul Campillo what he thinks. He opposed the new trash fee, characterizing it as a bait-and-switch. But he would not say if he’d support repealing the fee at the ballot box.
