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SANITATION - Instead of fixing inefficiency and demanding accountability, Los Angeles leaders are balancing the budget on the backs of struggling families.
Los Angeles families are already living at the breaking point. Rents are at record highs, groceries cost more each week, utility bills are climbing, and wages have not kept up with inflation. Yet, instead of relief, City Hall has decided to hit Angelenos with another financial blow: a staggering 54% increase in trash collection fees.
Let’s call this what it is — a tax by another name. For thousands of households, this increase is not a small change. It is hundreds of dollars more per year on top of already stretched budgets. The City may frame this as a necessary adjustment for “rising operating costs” and “labor obligations,” but to everyday residents, it feels like a betrayal.
Trash collection is one of the most basic services a city provides. When you pay your bill, you expect your bins emptied on time, alleys kept clean, bulky items collected without delay, and streets free from illegal dumping. Instead, Angelenos have seen missed pickups, piles of trash lingering for weeks, and neighborhoods neglected. And now, we are being told to pay half again as much for the privilege of subpar service.
The problem isn’t that sanitation workers don’t deserve fair pay — they do. The issue is that the City continues to treat taxpayers like an ATM machine, raising fees rather than asking hard questions about efficiency, management, and accountability. Where are the audits showing that every dollar in the Bureau of Sanitation is being used responsibly? Where is the transparency about spending priorities, contractor costs, and administrative overhead? Angelenos are being asked to pay more without being shown any evidence that their money is being managed wisely.
This hike is more than a budget line — it’s a justice issue. Seniors living on fixed incomes, families struggling to make rent, and low-income households already crushed by LA’s high cost of living will shoulder the heaviest burden. For them, an extra $20 or $30 a month isn’t “manageable” — it’s the difference between groceries and a bill, between medicine and utilities. City Hall knows this, yet chose to push the cost of mismanagement onto those least able to afford it.
What makes this worse is the complete lack of imagination behind the decision. Other major cities have reduced costs by investing in modern waste management technology, streamlining routes, and expanding composting and recycling programs that reduce landfill costs in the long run. LA could be a leader in green, cost-efficient trash collection. Instead, it has chosen the lazy path: raise fees, avoid reform, and hope residents don’t revolt.
Here is a brief video on the trash fee hike.
But Angelenos should not stay silent. This is our city, and we have every right to demand better. At the very least, the City Council should freeze this fee hike until:
1. A full independent audit of the Bureau of Sanitation is conducted and made public.
2. Efficiency reforms are proposed to cut unnecessary costs and streamline services.
3. Service improvements are guaranteed to ensure residents actually receive what they are paying for.
Anything less is unfair and unacceptable.
City leaders like to talk about equity, about lifting up communities and addressing inequality. Yet, actions like this trash fee hike reveal the opposite: a city government that is more interested in balancing its books on the backs of its residents than in finding real solutions. This is not equity. It is exploitation.
Trash may not be glamorous, but it is symbolic. When your neighborhood is clean, when your bins are emptied, when your streets are cared for, it means your city values you. When fees skyrocket while service remains mediocre, it sends the opposite message: your voice doesn’t matter, your struggle doesn’t matter, your city government doesn’t care.
Los Angeles deserves a better deal. Residents deserve fair, transparent fees and reliable services. They deserve leaders willing to innovate rather than simply reach into their pockets. They deserve a City Hall that works for the people — not against them.
This trash fee increase is more than just another bill. It is a test of whether Angelenos will accept endless hikes without accountability, or whether we will stand up and demand the city we deserve. For the sake of fairness, for the sake of justice, and for the sake of every family already stretched thin, we must demand better.
I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to community advocate Malik Naibi for his tireless work in raising awareness and advocating on this important issue. His dedication to ensuring that residents’ voices are heard reminds us that change is possible when the community stands together.
(Mihran Kalaydjian has over twenty years of public affairs, government relations, legislative affairs, public policy, community relations and strategic communications experience. He is a leading member of the community and a devoted civic engagement activist for education spearheading numerous academic initiatives in local political forums. Mihran is also the President of Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure of TCCI)
