Organized trash collection began in St. Paul on Oct. 1, but not every household affected by the city’s new residential trash hauling system paid their first bill.
In fact, as of March 7, there were about 8,500 accounts with outstanding debts from the Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 period, out of 73,485 households enrolled in the new system. That figure — representing 11.5 percent of all accounts — has since been trimmed to 6,694.
The rate of unpaid bills “is little higher than what we had anticipated, but not that much higher,” said Ellen Biales, administrative programs manager with St. Paul Public Works.
At the time, the unpaid accounts represented nearly $906,000 in uncollected money due to the eight private haulers that service St. Paul. Late notices have since helped whittle the total down to $636,000.
WHAT’S NEXT?
So what happens now?
After a trash bill goes unpaid for 90 days, the haulers have authority to turn the bill over to the city to attempt collection.
If the city isn’t successful in getting customers to pay in full, the totals will be added to their property tax bills payable in 2020, plus an administrative fee of $2.50.
Notices went out Feb. 6 alerting customers that they could challenge their bills, if necessary, and work with the city on resolving double billings and other concerns.
Roughly 400 customers came forward with complaints, but only about one out of eight residents who disputed their bills got them removed or reduced.
“We had about 400 people who took advantage of that opportunity, and we were able to work with about 55 people,” Biales said. “For the most part, the information folks provided was not sufficient for us to waive the assessment at that point in time.”
HEARING PROCESS
Now comes another process, this one even more formal. Residents who have yet to pay their trash bills began receiving notices March 22 explaining the hearing process.
Another batch of notices went out Friday.
Over the course of assigned dates in April and May, residents can plead their case to the city’s legislative hearing officer, who will host a public review of each challenge.
They should show up ready to make the strongest case they can. Documentation helps.
“If they have evidence of payments they’ve made to the haulers, or correspondence, that is helpful information,” Biales said. “The city is not going to waive payment unless there’s a compelling reason.”
“We don’t know how many people will want to dispute,” she added. “We have several different legislative hearing dates set over time. We’ll have 20 different dates.”
To confirm attendance at a legislative hearing, residents need to fill out a hearing request form at stpaul.gov/hearinggarbage. Residents can also call 651-266-6100 for assistance.
ST. PAUL CITY COUNCIL HEARINGS
What happens if the legislative hearing isn’t resolved to residents’ liking, or they don’t show up for it?
There’s still the chance of appealing to the St. Paul City Council, which will begin hearing challenges to solid-waste assessments in May. It may be tough to move council members, however, without documentation and prior review.
“For most people, it would be most expeditious for them to go before the legislative hearing officer,” Biales said. “What will likely happen is they’ll go before the council with no information readily available about their situation, and they’ll just be called to come back. We would have to go back and check with the hauler on when they paid, what they paid … Just saying that they don’t want to pay is not sufficient grounds for not being assessed.”
Some property owners said they’ve refused to pay their bill out of principle.
Colleen Halpine, who owns and lives in a four-unit multiplex off Selby and Western avenues, plans to protest her assessment, which she said will add $400 to her annual costs for services she doesn’t use. After composting and recycling, she and her neighbors always got by on a single 35-gallon cart. Now they’re required to pay for four carts, or one cart per household.
“I’m not paying because I’m not happy with the city requiring a lot more service and a lot more carts than my property needs,” Halpine said. “I’m not paying. … I’m not against organized collection. I like one garbage hauler. It’s just that they negotiated very poorly, and I feel that we’re not getting a good value. We need all the value we can get.”
