Mrs. White: Swell garbage tax proposal hurt by poor presentation

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Back on April 1, the Chronicle‘s neighborhood section reporter Seshdri Kumar offered an early report on the city’s plans to impose a new garbage tax while simultaneously cutting garbage service. Various blogs began to comment on the matter, and eventually all the news “big boys” reported the story, filling in additional details.

A week later, the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists (or, as Cory Crow would have it, Mrs. White) weighed in predictably in favor of Mayor White’s new garbage tax. Just as predictably, they don’t much like Councilmember Michael Berry’s accurate characterization of the proposal:

HOUSTON is a trash-monger’s paradise. Unlike other major cities, it doesn’t charge for ordinary trash removal. Heavy trash, a $28 million expense, gets whisked away free each month. And though large-scale recycling would create revenue, most residents see little reason to separate garbage. After all, there’s no cost if they don’t.

There are a few big bugs in this paradise: funding shortfalls for other services such as police, costly trash pickup from ineligible homes, and overflowing landfills. For the past year, a mayoral task force has sifted through these problems. Their well-researched proposals, offered last week to City Council, would keep trash management cheaper and easier for Houstonians than for their Texas neighbors.

However, though the task force was guided by seasoned leaders such as Comptroller Annise Parker, its moderate — even overly cautious — proposals faded next to one clumsily presented idea: a $42 yearly “waste reduction” fee.

Derided by Councilman Michael Berry as “less service, higher cost,” the proposal actually would be a bargain. It would create a dedicated fund of as much as $19 million annually to upgrade solid waste services. This otherwise untouchable account would pay for more recycling facilities, cover a portion of heavy trash pickup and launch a composting program for yard waste.

Right now, all trash services are paid out of the city’s general fund, which comes from taxes.

If the services are funded by taxes (which the Editorial LiveJournalists concede in the second bolded excerpt), then they are not “free” (as the Editorial LiveJournalists assert in the first bolded excerpt). As Slampo has pointed out, sanitation services in Houston are no more “free” than police or fire protection. Rather, they are basic services funded by taxes in our city.

The garbage tax proponents who briefed the Editorial LiveJournalists may not like Councilmember Berry’s characterization, but the fact is that what is being proposed is indeed a garbage tax accompanied by a reduction in city services. That much is really not debatable, although we can certainly debate the merits and demerits of the proposal.

Ubu Roi has been writing quite a bit about the demerits on his personal blog, and Part II of his “Trash the Fee” series is here. He also discusses the (related?) retirement of Houston’s solid waste director.

Feel free to offer your thoughts in the forum.


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Kevin Whited is co-founder and publisher of blogHOUSTON. Follow him on twitter: @PubliusTX