Saint Paul
In 2016, the City of St. Paul announced that they were going to take over management of the city's trash system. The city previously got out of the business of hauling trash in the 1970's due to significant financial losses.
In 2018, the city council forced haulers into a consortium contract that in the end drove roughly half of the 15 haulers to sell out to the large multi-national trash hauling corporations. Many were forced to sell or either go bankrupt under the city's pricing model.
Citizens immediately protested the new program, especially when the city announced that they were applying a new city fee to resident's garbage bills of over $100 per household per year.
Residents flooded the editorial pages of newspapers stating that the city's system that was supposed to save them money was actually going to raise their current bills. Senior citizens who previously shared cans were now told they would have to pay for their own can even through they barely would use it week to week.
Small apartment building owners were forced into buying one trash container per apartment unit even though this was more space than they needed. Those costs were passed on to renters.
Residents organized and submitted two petitions under the city's home rule charter to repeal two city ordinances related to the city's government managed trash collection scheme.
When the city was served with the first petition, it was ruled valid, and the city council repealed the ordinance instead of placing it on the ballot, and claimed that the ordinance was no longer needed.
When the city was served with a second petition, it was ruled valid, but the city said they would not repeal the ordinance installing the new trash collection system because they just signed a contract with the consortium of haulers. They essentially thumbed their noses at the citizen petition.
The citizens group hired the same attorney who has been battling the City of Bloomington's trash collection scheme before the Minnesota Supreme Court for the past three years.
The citizens group sued the City of St. Paul in Ramsey County District Court.
On May 30, 2019, Judge Leonardo Castro ruled that the city council blatantly violated the city charter, and ordered that the city's trash collection scheme would end in 30 days, and that the issue must be placed on the ballot at the November 5th city general election or at an earlier date if the city council wished to schedule a special election.
On May 31, 2019, Mayor Melvin Carter stated that the city would appeal, and that the city would use property tax general fund money to pay the haulers to keep picking up trash city wide under the current contract. The city is prohibited from billing residents for trash service until the city council holds an election on the issue.
The Minnesota Supreme Court took the case and ruled that the city violated the city charter and was mandated to place the question of how trash service would be paid for on the ballot in November 2019.
In the November election, the citizens voted YES to keep the payment ordinance in place for the billing of trash service.
Many people have misunderstood the citizen vote in November 2019, believing that this was a vote on the government takeover of the trash system. It was not.
The government trash scheme created by the city will remain in place until citizens put forward a petition placing the city's trash scheme on the ballot at a future election. This may happen in the next year or two.
The vote in November 2019 solely addressed the question of how the system would be paid for. A YES vote was to continue billing via direct billing statements to residents where every resident paid a fixed price. A NO vote would shift billing to the property tax where those with higher valued properties would pay more and those with lower valued properties would pay less. The YES vote prevailed and an analysis by the Pioneer Press determined that those who lived in high property valued neighborhoods voted YES and those in low property valued neighborhoods voted NO.
The Pioneer Press and Star Tribune newspapers, along with other local newspapers, have written extensively on this issue. Search their websites with keyword "trash" and "St. Paul"
Updated 1/13/20
In 2016, the City of St. Paul announced that they were going to take over management of the city's trash system. The city previously got out of the business of hauling trash in the 1970's due to significant financial losses.
In 2018, the city council forced haulers into a consortium contract that in the end drove roughly half of the 15 haulers to sell out to the large multi-national trash hauling corporations. Many were forced to sell or either go bankrupt under the city's pricing model.
Citizens immediately protested the new program, especially when the city announced that they were applying a new city fee to resident's garbage bills of over $100 per household per year.
Residents flooded the editorial pages of newspapers stating that the city's system that was supposed to save them money was actually going to raise their current bills. Senior citizens who previously shared cans were now told they would have to pay for their own can even through they barely would use it week to week.
Small apartment building owners were forced into buying one trash container per apartment unit even though this was more space than they needed. Those costs were passed on to renters.
Residents organized and submitted two petitions under the city's home rule charter to repeal two city ordinances related to the city's government managed trash collection scheme.
When the city was served with the first petition, it was ruled valid, and the city council repealed the ordinance instead of placing it on the ballot, and claimed that the ordinance was no longer needed.
When the city was served with a second petition, it was ruled valid, but the city said they would not repeal the ordinance installing the new trash collection system because they just signed a contract with the consortium of haulers. They essentially thumbed their noses at the citizen petition.
The citizens group hired the same attorney who has been battling the City of Bloomington's trash collection scheme before the Minnesota Supreme Court for the past three years.
The citizens group sued the City of St. Paul in Ramsey County District Court.
On May 30, 2019, Judge Leonardo Castro ruled that the city council blatantly violated the city charter, and ordered that the city's trash collection scheme would end in 30 days, and that the issue must be placed on the ballot at the November 5th city general election or at an earlier date if the city council wished to schedule a special election.
On May 31, 2019, Mayor Melvin Carter stated that the city would appeal, and that the city would use property tax general fund money to pay the haulers to keep picking up trash city wide under the current contract. The city is prohibited from billing residents for trash service until the city council holds an election on the issue.
The Minnesota Supreme Court took the case and ruled that the city violated the city charter and was mandated to place the question of how trash service would be paid for on the ballot in November 2019.
In the November election, the citizens voted YES to keep the payment ordinance in place for the billing of trash service.
Many people have misunderstood the citizen vote in November 2019, believing that this was a vote on the government takeover of the trash system. It was not.
The government trash scheme created by the city will remain in place until citizens put forward a petition placing the city's trash scheme on the ballot at a future election. This may happen in the next year or two.
The vote in November 2019 solely addressed the question of how the system would be paid for. A YES vote was to continue billing via direct billing statements to residents where every resident paid a fixed price. A NO vote would shift billing to the property tax where those with higher valued properties would pay more and those with lower valued properties would pay less. The YES vote prevailed and an analysis by the Pioneer Press determined that those who lived in high property valued neighborhoods voted YES and those in low property valued neighborhoods voted NO.
The Pioneer Press and Star Tribune newspapers, along with other local newspapers, have written extensively on this issue. Search their websites with keyword "trash" and "St. Paul"
Updated 1/13/20