A billing mistake that inflated trash fees for more than 87,000 San Diego ratepayers is being corrected after city officials delivered accurate data to the county's Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office on Friday, according to a September 25, 2026 report from KPBS. The mistake, which originated from city errors but appeared on county property-tax bills, caused solid waste management charges to run higher than they should have been — in some instances by hundreds of dollars. Mayor Todd Gloria said revised bills will arrive before the November 1 deadline, and no resident will be required to pay more than the correct amount.
The overcharges were introduced as part of certain county property-tax statements, though the error stemmed from a city mistake involving solid waste management fees, city leaders said. Bills become delinquent after December 10. The city's Environmental Services staff has now provided the county with accurate billing information, and officials are coordinating with the Treasurer-Tax Collector's office to update property tax statements. City staff will notify affected residents directly, according to the report. The city asked residents to wait for a new bill rather than filing a billing dispute, noting that customer accounts in the city's Residential Waste Collection Services Portal remain accurate.
"When this error was identified, I directed immediate action to correct it," Gloria said. "This was an unacceptable error, and we are fixing it. Our responsibility is to be upfront when something goes wrong, act quickly to make it right and keep San Diegans informed along the way." However, Councilmember and Budget Committee Chair Henry Foster III and Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera called for a complete accounting of the error from the Mayor's Office. "The mayor needs to look in the mirror and if he can't do the job, he needs to step down," Foster said. City Council District 2 candidate Nicole Crosby said the trash fee rollout was bungled from the start and the buck stops with Gloria, calling on the mayor to report the full scope of the error and explain how he'll prevent it from happening again.
The billing error comes after the City Council voted in June to reduce trash fees for single-family homes to $38.75 starting next year for the typical 95-gallon bin bundle — a figure adjusted for inflation from the initial 2021 proposal. That amount will increase to $39.91 on July 1, 2028. The fees followed the passage of Measure B, which ended 106 years of free trash pickup services for single-family homes. A group of homeowners sued the city, alleging the fees violated Proposition 218, a 1996 California initiative that holds utility fees can't exceed the costs of providing those services. Former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre, representing the homeowners, said that while voters approved a monthly fee of between $23 and $29, the council approved imposing a nearly $44 monthly fee. Single-family refuse pickup had been funded by the city's general fund, which all residents pay into through property tax, and the city collects 300,000 tons of trash and 150,000 tons of recycling, compostables and yard waste annually.