Hoppe: Doubling fines for early trash excessive

Monday night, the City Council will vote on a proposal to double (and more) fines for putting your trash out on the curb before the designated pickup day. Fines for first-time offenders would jump from $25 to $50, and those for repeat offenders would go from $45 to $100. City officials calculate that enforcement and pickup cost a little over $40 per incident.

Barbara Hoppe supports the fine increase as a way to cover city costs and resolve the growing conflict over curbside trash in the East Campus area, but says the proposed numbers are excessive. Instead, Hoppe suggests fining first-time offenders $40, or enough to cover the city’s costs, and of fining repeat offenders $65 to $60.

Hoppe says that high fines may be counterproductive, as residents will be less likely to call in violators if they know they’ll be sticking their neighbors with a financially painful penalty.

“If the fee is too high, they may be reluctant to say anything,” Hoppe said. “(Residents) don’t want it to be unduly harsh, they just want it to be enough for an incentive not to do it in the future.”

Hoppe called a $100 fine for repeat offenders “way too much.”

“My goal is to get that down to $65-$70… it has to be bigger, but $100 seems a little heavy handed,” Hoppe said. “We want to cover city costs but our goal is not to make it a profit-making enterprise.”

Trash pickup in the East Campus area is now set for Wednesdays, though Hoppe mentioned her support for a proposal to change it to Mondays next fall in order to more quickly clear weekend trash. Hoppe also said she thought the city might need to rewrite ordinances to cover trash that has been moved away from the curb, as some residents are currently resorting to that particular tactic in order to avoid city fines.