Dumpster Owners Will Pay to Throw Away

Story by: Eli Kaberon

April 28, 2009  – No topic received a larger response at the April 1 Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR) town hall meeting than the dumpster tax recently passed by the Chicago City Council.

The tax, which was included in the 2009 city budget, places a fee on every dumpster in the city, with the cost depending on the size of the bin.

This cost, according to Ald. Brendan Reilly (42^nd), was meant to provide income to help the city balance the budget. But Reilly told 200 attendees at the town hall meeting that he will fight the dumpster tax, because he doesn’t believe it is fair to his ward’s residents.

“One thing we can’t do is nickel and dime the electorate in this city,” Reilly said at the meeting, in the ballroom of the DoubleTree Hotel. “We need to make sure the city is still a place people can live in, not just a place to work. People look up to this city, and especially this ward, as a true success story.”

While Reilly is not opposed to the tax altogether, he believes there should be different rates for residents and businesses. Reilly said that people living in buildings where the only trash option is a dumpster should not be charged the same rates as companies with loading docks or construction sites, which are tossing rubbish resulting from their line of work.

SOAR Vice President Brian Hopkins had similar views on the tax. He pointed out that single-family homes with garbage pickup in allies will be exempt from the fee, while downtown residents will be paying for their waste collection.

“It’s a relatively small cost, so it really isn’t about the money. But we as condo owners and apartment renters shouldn’t have to pay what the bungalow owners don’t,” said Hopkins after the meeting. “We think that high rises are already over-taxed; it’s really unfair.”

Representatives from the city’s budget office and the Commissioner of Streets and Sanitation did not return repeated calls for comment on this story.

The 42nd Ward, which covers the neighborhoods of Streeterville, the Gold Coast, River North, the New East Side and parts of the Loop, is both a residential and business hub of Chicago. Sixty percent of the city’s business and sales taxes, according to Reilly, are contributed by commerce in the ward, and many believe this is where Chicago will have to obtain more revenue in order to have a balanced budget.

But ward residents were not pleased to hear about the way the city plans on collecting their extra earnings.

“That was definitely eye-opening,” said SOAR member Manny Martinez when asked about the tax hike. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a dumpster tax, and I pride myself in knowing what’s going on at City Hall. But that really doesn’t seem fair to all of us.”