Looks like a piece of Mayor Nutter's budget may be falling apart. Yesterday, a City Council committee voted to repeal a $500-a-year trash collection fee for small businesses. The fee, approved by Council back in March, was expected to generate about $7 million in revenue. Council could take a final vote to squash the fee as early as next week.
I'm undecided if the fee is fair or not, but I'm a little surprised that Council decided to revisit the issue so late in the process. The city has already started spending money based on the budget that passed. If the fee is repealed, the Nutter Administration will have to come up with another way to generate revenue or make $7 million in additional cuts.
Council is reconsidering the fee because business owners are angry about the fee. Right now, smaller companies do not pay for commercial trash pick up. According to an article in today's Daily News, about 15,000 businesses receive this service without paying for it. Of course, many businesses owners would point out that they pay the Business Privilege Tax and property taxes and that should cover those services.
I see two big problems with the trash fee. First of all, it's a flat charge. Most taxes are determined by the size of the businesses, either profit or revenue. The current structure of the trash fee means that very small businesses-- like a hair salon or coffee shop-- will pay the same as a medium sized company, like a car garage. That strikes me as being somewhat unfair, especially in today's economy where small businesses are really struggling.
The second problem with the fee is that it does nothing to encourage businesses to behave in a sustainable way. If they generate a lot or a little trash, they get charged the same. Without incentives to be environmentally-friendly, it seems likely that most businesses will try to get as much as they can from a service that suddenly costs $500-a-year. If city government is really serious about promoting sustainability, they would take advantages of opportunities to reward good behavior.
Of course, the uproar about trash fees is nothing new. Back in January, the administration made noises about imposing a fee on all city residents for curbside trash collection. The response to the proposal was overwhelmingly negative and eventually it died before ever getting proposed to City Council. It'll be interesting to see if the fee for small businesses suffers a similar fate.
What do you think? Is the fee for trash collection fair or should the city look for another option?
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Contact:
Doron Taussig:
215-854-5307
doron.taussig@gmail.com
@dorontaussig
Holly Otterbein:
215-854-5809
hm.otterbein@gmail.com
@hollyotterbein
Juliana Reyes:
215-854-5855
juliana.f.reyes@gmail.com
@juliana_f_reyes
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