Council adopts solid waste management fee on county tax roll after hearing; staff outlines container rollout and financial-assistance program
June 23, 2026 | San Diego City, San Diego County, California
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San Diego City Council on Tuesday adopted the written report that will allow the city to collect its residential solid waste management fees on the county property tax roll for fiscal year 2027, after a public hearing and an Environmental Services Department (ESD) presentation.
Jeremy Bauer, ESD assistant director, told the council the report lists properties receiving city-provided solid waste services and explains how baseline fees, credits and debits are calculated. Bauer reviewed operational steps taken since the fee was adopted last year, including a large container replacement program and the rollout of a customer portal. He said roughly 259,000 gray trash containers have been replaced and the portal has roughly 123,000 accounts. Bauer said the city designed the county tax-roll collection to be convenient for customers and noted that "98.48% of customers have paid their property tax bill" as of the date of his remarks.
Bauer also described the financial-assistance program administered with the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty (MAC): applications were open earlier in the year through April 30 and ESD reported about 4,000 applications received and roughly 2,400 fully approved to date; approved applicants will receive rebates for FY26 and proactive tax-roll credits next fiscal year where timing allows. ESD noted the assistance program currently has funding to support up to 7,000 households and has received about $63,000 in voluntary donations from customers.
On implementation and technology, ESD said new containers are equipped with RFID tags and staff completed a pilot of hardware; the initial hardware tested did not meet detectability goals and the department plans to test alternate vendor hardware before investing in truck-mounted readers. Bauer said a contract vehicle item for the next pilot stage would reach the council in coming weeks.
Public testimony included concerns about billing on the tax roll, outreach to affected property owners, and equity and accessibility of the financial-assistance clinics. After public comment the city clerk reported three written protests were filed (well below the 50%+1 threshold needed to defeat the action). The council then voted to adopt the report. The deputy clerk recorded the action as passing "six-two with District 5 absent."
Jeremy Bauer, ESD assistant director, told the council the report lists properties receiving city-provided solid waste services and explains how baseline fees, credits and debits are calculated. Bauer reviewed operational steps taken since the fee was adopted last year, including a large container replacement program and the rollout of a customer portal. He said roughly 259,000 gray trash containers have been replaced and the portal has roughly 123,000 accounts. Bauer said the city designed the county tax-roll collection to be convenient for customers and noted that "98.48% of customers have paid their property tax bill" as of the date of his remarks.
Bauer also described the financial-assistance program administered with the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty (MAC): applications were open earlier in the year through April 30 and ESD reported about 4,000 applications received and roughly 2,400 fully approved to date; approved applicants will receive rebates for FY26 and proactive tax-roll credits next fiscal year where timing allows. ESD noted the assistance program currently has funding to support up to 7,000 households and has received about $63,000 in voluntary donations from customers.
On implementation and technology, ESD said new containers are equipped with RFID tags and staff completed a pilot of hardware; the initial hardware tested did not meet detectability goals and the department plans to test alternate vendor hardware before investing in truck-mounted readers. Bauer said a contract vehicle item for the next pilot stage would reach the council in coming weeks.
Public testimony included concerns about billing on the tax roll, outreach to affected property owners, and equity and accessibility of the financial-assistance clinics. After public comment the city clerk reported three written protests were filed (well below the 50%+1 threshold needed to defeat the action). The council then voted to adopt the report. The deputy clerk recorded the action as passing "six-two with District 5 absent."
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