Snowbirds buried in garbage bills they believe they shouldn’t have to pay

Tuesday, May 2, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.

For Clark County's many snowbirds, the county's trash policy is, well, garbage.

Thousands of part-time residents - and others whose property, for various reasons, is uninhabited all or most of the year - are forced to pay for garbage collection even though they do not receive the service.

That's because while their homes are vacant and do not produce trash, county law requires them to pay a garbage bill unless they turn off all of the utilities - a provision that many feel unfairly forces them to cough up money that buys them nothing.

"It's not my favorite thing to do - to pay for something and not get anything for it," said Kathy Vlaanderen, 68, owner of a home on a half-acre lot in Logandale.

She pays for service year round even though she spends five months of the year at another home near Ogden, Utah.

During those months, sanitation crews are "not picking up anything," she said.

Although the county allows residents to cancel waste collection if they shut down their utilities, part-time homeowners complain that the system is nothing more than a slightly veiled way to line the pockets of a private company.

"It's very unfair," said Wesley Fisher, 69, of Overton. "If you're not using it, why do you have to pay for it?"

Fisher leaves for at least three months a year to spend time at his small ranch in Coalville, Utah. While the drive north might provide some relief from the heat, it doesn't provide any for his pocketbook.

"It's like any monopoly," he said. "They are the only game in town, so what can you do?"

Republic Services, the private company that provides solid waste management to most of Clark County, has a contract with the county that runs through 2025.

If you do the math, the mandatory curbside collection fee costs part-time homeowners a lot.

In 2000, more than 24,200 single-family homes in Clark County were vacant because they were "seasonal, recreational or occasional" properties, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The county's trash collection rate starts at $11.43 per month.

Based on those numbers, Republic rakes in nearly $830,000 over the summer - months when most of those seasonal homes are empty - thanks to the county's laws.

Some full-time residents, however, have little pity on snowbirds who, despite being able to afford two homes, complain about paying a measly $11 to $12 a month for trash service over the summer.

Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins is one such unsympathetic resident.

"When you've got a million people happy you aren't going to change the rules for two people," Collins said.

The county's trash policy keeps everybody's rates lower by charging part-time residents full-time fees, Collins said.

"You want to raise rates to have Republic Services check to see if everyone is home? I mean, come on, it's just common sense," he said.

Commissioners passed the mandatory curbside collection law in 1993. At that time, the federal government was requiring local governments to either upgrade landfills to new standards or shut them down.

The county closed some landfills that it deemed too expensive to upgrade and feared a corresponding increase in desert dumping, so commissioners imposed the no-utilities requirement, essentially forcing all residents to pay for curbside service, thus eliminating the motivation to dump illegally.

The policy does not penalize only snowbirds, though. It also places burdens on residents such as Ralph Starita, who is trying to sell property in Logandale.

Starita's home now sits vacant with a "For Sale" sign out front. But when he called to cancel the waste collection service at the property, he was told he couldn't - unless he turned off all of his utilities.

"It's just another way for corporate America to stuff it to the people," the 67-year-old retiree said. "How much money are these people making off of us? That's free money."

Gary Pearson, 69, spends five of Las Vegas' warmer months in other states in his RV. He said turning off all utilities is impractical because of the valley's paint-peeling 100-degree temperatures.

"I've got over 100 trees," he said. "If I turn the water off, that stuff is gone."

Bob Coyle, area president for Republic Services, argues that changing the policy now would be detrimental.

Skipping scattered snowbird residences across the county would not have much impact on the company's basic infrastructure needs, he said. Although the company would see a significant drop in revenue if snowbirds stopped paying during the summer, its garbage trucks still would have to roll right past their homes, he said.

"You wouldn't have enough trucks. You wouldn't have enough people. You wouldn't be able to continue the service," he said. "There's a basic infrastructure level you have to maintain, and somebody's got to pay for that."

And the company takes nonpayment seriously.

"We probably put liens on a couple hundred people a quarter," Coyle said.

Moreover, the county's rubbish removal fee is relatively low, Erik Pappa, spokesman for the county, said. Many counties charge residents for waste removal through property taxes, giving them no option except to pay the fee, he said.

"County code does give snowbirds the option of decommissioning their utilities as a means to avoid the monthly payment requirement," Pappa said. "Short of that, what reliable, cost-effective means does Republic have to confirm without a reasonable doubt that no trash is being generated from those locations?"

So, even as temperatures rise and the county's snowbirds flee the valley's hottest season for cooler pastures in Utah or Oregon or Canada, they'd better keep their checkbooks handy.