[quote=SD Realtor]Hmmm… Several cities I have rentals in out of state have private trash collection. Seems like there is not an explosion of prices.[/quote]Actually, Republic now picks up our trash in Chula Vista. They bought Allied Waste, who bought Laidlaw several years earlier. They pick up EVERYONE’s trash in the incorporated area. For the 39 gallon TRASH bin, 90 gal recycle bin and 90 gal yard waste bin, they charge ~$29 bimonthly. HOWEVER, in the UNINCorporated areas (the closest one being ~3 blocks away), they charge over $72 for the same (bimonthly) service. This tells me that the CITY was and is subsidizing Republic (and earlier, Allied Waste and Laidlaw) for trash pickup. However, the charge does not appear on our tax bills as it does in some county unincorporated areas. This tells me it is subsidized by the CITY’s general fund (partly derived from “Teeter funds” which are property taxes confiscated by the state and later returned to the cities and counties from whence they came.
Even though Republic (and its predecessors’) main office is located at the Otay Landfill in Chula Vista, we are now required to send our bimonthly payments to Phoenix (snail mail only).
Go figure that one out. Is it a monopoly? I would say YES! Is it “unionized?” No. There is no “People’s Ordinance” in place in the City of Chula Vista and the collectors are NOT “civil servants.”
Hence, except for comm’l RE and large apt bldgs (who can choose their trash p/u provider), SFR and 2-4 unit owners cannot “choose” their provider in the incorporated area.
I would venture that SD East County cities have the same type of “contract” with EDCO (of Lemon Grove).
Folks, “privatization” doesn’t always work out the way the “free-market” proponents think it “ought to.”
In SD County, for all practical purposes, in the incorporated cities outside of the City of SD, residential trash collection is NOT a “free market” and never will be.
So get that silly notion out of your over-thinking heads.
