Rental property owners in Green Park could be billed annually to pay for trash services — costs which have historically been covered by the city — if the city’s Board of Aldermen vote through a new policy. Currently, the draft policy is being drawn up by Code Enforcement Officer Matthew Gones and city attorney Paul Rost. It is slated to be presented to the board at the April meeting.
The idea was introduced by city clerk Theresa Pfyl at the March 16 Board of Aldermen meeting. Thanks to a new program that registers and tracks rental properties in Green Park, Pfyl has noticed many rental property owners listed as LLCs.
“An LLC, to me, is not a homeowner — it’s a company,” Pfyl said. “The city does not pay for businesses’ trash services. We pay for residential trash. I’m asking the city for their opinion. The way we could probably be more cost-effective is to not pay for trash services for a business.”
Ward 1 Alderman Michael Broughton said, “(I’m) all in favor of that. The people that own these properties are businesspeople. Their business is providing a place to live to people who pay them.”
The city’s contract with the trash service American Eagle Waste Industries says that American Eagle picks up trash at residential addresses, then charges the city for that service. Since rental properties still count as residential addresses, getting rental owners to pay needs to align with Green Park’s contractual agreement. Rost explained that there are two ways to do so.
“You would either have to modify (the contract), which they wouldn’t like, because they’re going to drop off 60 homes or whatever,” Rost said. “Or you’d have to keep with that contract and charge back these properties and get them to pay after the fact or before the fact.”
Broughton suggested billing the owner for trash services on an annual basis, “and adding an administrative fee to that” of $25 or $30.
“Some of these people have multiple residents in Green Park at different rentals,” Broughton said about the fee. “It would be a nightmare to try to keep track of them if we bill it in one bill. I think an administrative fee would be something that would be in line with our having to keep track of all these things.”
In addition to traditional, LLC-owned rental properties, Broughton also suggested a similar rule be applied to non-owner occupied properties, though it is unclear whether this will be incorporated into the draft policy. He gave the example of a man who lets his cousin live in a house he owns for an extended period.
“It’s pretty much the same as having a rental property, and I don’t think we should be providing trash and other services for those people,” Broughton said. “They don’t have the same responsibility to the property that an owner does.”
The board did not discuss whether this would affect renters in Green Park, who could see rising rent prices under such a policy due to the added cost of the trash service on their property owners.
Aldermen spent some time at the meeting discussing enforcement of the potential policy, but eventually agreed that Rost and Gones would work out the details in a draft policy for the next meeting. The board will consider any alterations or passage then.
