Editorial: No reprieve from trash cost

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 | 7:40 a.m.

A few Clark County homeowners are beginning to complain that they must pay monthly garbage-collection bills year-round even though their residence here is seasonal.

We cannot sympathize with their alleged plight from either practical or legal points of view.

Garbage collection is driven by deadlines. The hundreds of drivers and helpers who work for Republic Services, the company contracted to pick up garbage in the county, do not have time while working their routes to consult what would be a huge ledger containing the addresses of temporarily vacant homes. (Imagine, too, if there were such a ledger, how valuable it would be to burglars.)

Because there would be no efficient way of verifying home vacancies in an area as populated as ours, all curbside garbage would still have to be collected. There would be nothing to stop people from calling the company and getting a few months of free garbage service by claiming they wouldn't be home.

From a legal point of view, all property owners must fulfill certain obligations, whether they are home or not. They do not get out of paying full property taxes just because they live part of the year in another home. Their sewer bill is due whether they were home to flush the toilets or not. Basic charges are always due on electric, gas, water, phone, cable and Internet bills as well.

Garbage is no different. It is, essentially, a utility whose expense goes with the house. Additionally, if thousands of people were granted rate reprieves while away from their property for months, the reasonable rates for garbage service that all are paying now would quickly rise.

We believe seasonal residents should bag their complaints and leave them at curbside.