Steep garbage fee hike proposed

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to propose hiking monthly garbage-collection bills again next week to $36 - triple the cost of just two years ago.

The increase would hit as city residents have begun feeling the pinch of an economic downturn and seeing their household expenses rise with higher prices for everything from gasoline and food to water and power.

But Villaraigosa said Los Angeles must try to raise a variety of fees - including those for trash collection - to close a $406 million budget shortfall and meet his promise to expand the police force by 1,000 officers.

The mayor is expected to formally announce the fee hike Monday - when he releases his proposed city budget - but he mentioned his intention this week when he said the city will seek to recoup the full cost of garbage pickup.

The move already is angering many residents, who said they thought the trash fee increases over the past two years were enough to cover the cost of hiring new police officers.

"We thought we had paid for a trash fee and now this is another trash fee?" said Jill Banks Barad, a Neighborhood Council member.

Neighborhood councils agreed to support Villaraigosa in 2006 when he first proposed a four-year plan to raise the trash fee - from $11 a month to $28 a month - because he promised to use the money to hire more police officers.

"We were willing to trade off," she recalled. "But I don't remember anyone

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