Sanitation Fee Reset

The City of New Orleans is facing an overall $220 million dollar budget deficit. As we have worked to close this gap, our analysis of the city’s finances discovered a $24 million operational deficit in sanitation services which is supposed to be covered by fees. The total cost of sanitation services is $62 million, but fees set in 2011 only raise $38 million in collection. Resetting the fee is responsible financial stewardship, and ensures reliable sanitation services, and clean streets.  

Key points

• ​The current $24.00 per month residential sanitation fee needs to be reset to $32.25 per month. 
• The current $48.00 per month non-residential sanitation fee needs to be reset to $64.50 per month. 
• The current $100.00 per year litter abatement fee for ineligible locations needs to be reset to $125.00 per year. 
• The current fees were set in 2011 and have not changed in 15 years despite the significant increase in cost for sanitation services.  
• Because the fees do not cover the $62 million in cost of services, the city runs a $24 million deficit each year in sanitation costs.  
• Rate payers will not bear the additional costs for unverified locations.

Cost comparison to other parishes  

Location	Residential Fee	Service Provided	Disposal	Annual Adjustment
Orleans	Current: $24/month New: $32.25/month	Weekly solid waste and recyclables collection	Disposal service included in sanitation fee	None
Lafayette	$32.91/month	Weekly solid waste and recyclables collection	Disposal service included in fee, and annual adjustment	Yes, to cover cost of services
Baton Rouge	$35.23/month	Twice-per-week solid waste collection; weekly recyclables collection	Disposal service included in the fee	Yes, to cover cost of services
Jefferson	$26.63/month	Twice-per-week solid waste collection; No recyclables	Disposal service not included in the fee	Yes, adjusted by CPI-U

What you get from the reset 

• Issuance of two free trash carts for requesting properties. 
• Citywide Illegal Dumping Strike Force to expedite cleanup on public properties. 
• Stronger enforcement of litter abatement fees. 
• Annual inflation adjustments to align with contracts. 
• Code modernization to properly identify eligible properties. 
• Wages above the $16.01/hr living wage for sanitation workers. 
• New equipment providing expanded service offering at an enhanced service level. 

What happens if we don't reset the fee 

• City of New Orleans maintains a budget deficit of $24 million, diverting general fund dollars to cover 
• Growing deficit as contract costs rise, increasing the cost of a solution year-over-year 
• Cuts toward essential services such as sanitation and public safety.