Trash fees.

As he gears up to present his first city budget this week, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced plans to seek an increase in city trash pickup fees to fund the hiring of 1,000 more police officers.

Under Villaraigosa's plan, monthly trash fees for homeowners and owners of small apartment buildings (four units or less) would increase to $18 from the current $11 as of July 1 and them would increase each year until they reach $28 per month on July 1, 2009.

At that level, the fee would generate an additional $128 million that would then be used to hire 1,000 more police officers in the next five years. Currently, the city has about 9,200 officers on the police force.

Villaraigosa said the trash fee hike was needed because the city was facing a persistent structural budget deficit that is projected to reach $300 million next year. He said he chose the trash fee increase because the city charges among the lowest rates for residential trash collection among L.A. County cities.

But critics of the plan said that the fee is just one of many imposed on- homeowners in recent years that collectively impose a significant financial burden. Specifically, homeowner groups say they were being unfairly targeted to subsidize expanding the police force when a majority of city residents are renters. The money to boost the police force should be round within the city's current budget, they said.