Real Estate Tips: San Diego's Measure B Verdict

It’s official. San Diego voters approved measure B which ends no-fee trash pick up for most single family homes in the city. Households likely won’t be billed for trash for another two years as the city figures out a fee structure, but no this is coming. As a homeowner it is important to know of all expenses beyond just your mortgage payment. Read more on this below:

Final election results released Thursday made official what had become clear in recent weeks: Voters approved San Diego’s Measure B, which ends no-fee trash pick-up for most single-family homes in the city.

Supporters of the measure say its success is a big win that will give the city as much as $100 million a year to spend on other priorities and might let it encourage more recycling with “pay as you throw” programs.

Measure B was approved by 203,223 voters and rejected by 199,384 voters, giving it a margin of 3,839 votes. Support came from 50.48 percent of voters, with 49.52 percent opposed.

The success of Measure B ends a two-tiered trash system in San Diego that forces businesses and owners of apartments and condos to pay private haulers to pick up their trash, while most single-family homeowners pay nothing beyond their property taxes.

The measure allows San Diego to establish new monthly fees for trash pickup at single-family households. An analysis unveiled Aug. 15 by the city’s independent budget analyst says they would pay between $23 and $29 per month.

But bills won’t start coming for roughly two years. The city must first pay a consultant roughly $1 million to complete a cost-of-service study, which would determine a fee structure and how discounts might work for low-income people.

“It’s a really positive thing for San Diego,” said City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, who spearheaded Measure B. “What we’ve done is unlock the city from a very, very outdated, very irresponsible and very unfair policy that was restricting our ability to manage our solid waste system in a sustainable and responsible way.”

Elo-Rivera and Councilmember Joe LaCava recently launched outreach efforts to gather public feedback on what services the city should offer under a revised trash policy.

Measure B is expected to generate as much as $100 million a year in new revenue for San Diego that could be spent on libraries, parks, firefighting and other city services. Elo-Rivera said providing free trash pickup to single-family homes was crushing the city’s finances.

Source: San Diego Union Tribune