An increase of $12 per month in the city's garbage collection fee could have students who rent houses paying more in utilities starting August 1.
The Tucson City Council voted 4-3 on Monday to require Tucsonans to pay $14 monthly - up from $2 - to get their garbage collected. The cost is expected to trickle down to all tenants who pay water bills.
"If you're living in a single family residence- basically a house, you're subject to the $12 fee increase," said Jay Gonzalez, communications director for county city manager James Keene, who proposed the fee. "If you have a water bill and the water isn't paid for by the landlord, he'll probably pass the cost on to the renter."
But those who live in apartment complexes, Gonzalez said, won't be affected. Because the complexes are commercial entities, they're already required to pay higher collection fees and only a small increase will be imposed, he said.
The fee increase is expected to bring in about $20 million per year, an amount city council members hope will help fill some of the city's $60 million deficit.
Gonzalez said the addition of a $600,000 lifeline fund would help those who can't afford the fee increase.
The fund was adopted into the proposal Monday at the city council meeting.
But Steve Leal, one of the three council members who opposed the fee hike, said the lifeline fund isn't nearly enough to support the number of Tucsonans that can't afford the 600 percent increase.
"It's absurd. There's 88,000 people living below the poverty level in Tucson," he said. "To have an adequate lifeline for those people would cost 5 million dollars."
But Gonzalez said the fee increase was necessary to bring 71 more police officers in the Tucson Police Department, 2 new fire stations, and $35 million in street repairs over the next two years. "By creating this fee we can provide other services," he said.
He said the UAPD, because it is separate from the Tucson Police Department, would not be seeing any new officers. But he said the university
community will see benefit from better fire service and repaved streets near the university, like Campbell St., Grant Ave. and 1st Ave.
"People are going to see a difference," he said. "People are going to see a big difference in the level of service that we'll be able to bring Tucson."
Leal said more sales tax revenues and state money would be enough to cover the police and fire staff additions the city needed.
Lindsay Butler, a marketing senior whose water bills at the house she rents are split among three people, said city officials should have found a way to avoid the fee increase.
"These are all good causes but isn't that why we pay our taxes?" she asked.
"Things always seem to be taken care of and then all of a sudden someone says, 'oh, we've got a deficit, let's impose fees."
Leal said the increase was unnecessary and unfair. "It's double taxation," he said. "People already pay for garbage pick up, this is just charging them twice."