Tucsonans could be paying penalties ranging from $10 to $50 for improper recycling and garbage disposal practices if a plan presented to the City Council Monday, June 3, is approved.
The council will hold a public hearing June 10 on new garbage collection regulations being proposed in conjunction to the switch to once-a-week garbage and once-a-week recycling starting in July.
The plan calls for residents to get two warning notices each calendar quarter for such items as failing to pull the refuse container back from the curb promptly or throwing garbage in with the recycling. Violations after the warnings would draw a penalty. For those particular violations, the penalty would be $10 each.
City officials insist the charge for violating regulations is a "fee," not a fine.
One of the biggest points of contention is likely to be penalties assessed to residents who share a large 300-gallon trash bin with two or three neighbors.
The proposal calls for the $50 fine for an overflowing trash container to be split among all the households who use that container.
Complaints about one neighbor who regularly overloads the container, leaving no room for anyone else's refuse are common both at the Solid Waste Department and to City Council offices.
The city services about 81,000 households, with about 41,000 of those sharing one of the large trash containers with neighbors.
Democratic Councilwoman Shirley Scott said she's concerned what affect the addition of fines will have on the pre-existing problems with the shared containers.
Republican Councilman Fred Ronstadt said he's also concerned that residents might end up paying for a form of wildcat dumping, in which some businesses, like landscape companies, will drive down an alley and dump and fill up a large container with debris to avoid paying the landfill fee.
The plan calls for the Solid Waste Department to enforce the regulations and bill residents for violations.