NO FEE BREAK FOR PLAN ON TRASH SELF-HAULERS WOULD ALSO PAY CHARGES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

ROSAMOND - Property owners who haul their own trash to dumps won't be exempted from paying fees under a proposed mandatory trash collection program for east Kern County, county Supervisor Don Maben said Tuesday.

Maben said his plan to allow ``self-haulers'' to register for rebates of the trash collection fees had to be scrapped on the advice of county attorneys, who said the exemptions are not allowed under the state law that requires property owner approval on new property taxes.

``I want to apologize to all who were counting on the initial assumption that an exemption could be granted to self-haulers,'' Maben said.

Maben aide Matthew Park said the supervisor was informed by county legal staff that Proposition 218, the law that requires property tax increases to go to a vote of property owners, does not allow residents to be taxed for a service they would not receive.

Under the proposed program, homeowners will be charged $18.91 a month for mandatory trash collection service as a way to help curb illegal dumping in and around east county communities.

Requiring residents and businesses to pay for trash service, supporters say, will make it less likely that people wanting to avoid trash or landfill fees will load a pickup truck full of trash, haul it into the desert and dump it.

The proposal calls for setting a rate of $18.91 per month for parcels with one or two residential units; $85.69 for parcels with three residential units; and $110.63 per month for parcels with four residential units.

The proposal calls for limiting future yearly rate hikes to the lesser of 5 percent or the consumer price index.

The proposal requires that all residential and nonresidential properties, excluding vacant and uninhabitable property, have garbage collection service from a franchise garbage hauler.

The plan calls for placing the trash collection fee on the property tax rolls beginning Jan. 1. The fee will pay for once-a-week trash collection plus a regular bulky item waste collection service.

The mandatory trash service will go into effect for the communities of Rosamond, Mojave, Boron and Tehachapi unless a majority of property owners protest in writing against the fee.

A protest meeting on the proposal is set for May 20 in Bakersfield.

Property owners wanting to file protest letters can address them to Kern County Waste Management Department, 2700 M St., Suite 500, Bakersfield, CA 93301.

A series of public meetings on the proposal, one in each of the communities that would be affected, will be held beginning next week. All the meetings will start at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting for Boron will be held April 28 at the Boron Recreation Center, 26998 John St.

The Tehachapi meeting will be held April 30 at the Tehachapi Veterans Center, 125 E. F St.

The Rosamond meeting will be held May 1 at Hummel Community Center, 2500 20th St.

The Mojave meeting will be held at the recreation center, 15555 O St.