Taking out the trash could soon take a slice out of your pocketbook.

City officials are considering a fee for trash collection that could be as much as $20 a month. The city has set aside $65,000 for a solid waste management study that may pave the way for a user fee for refuse collection.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann broached the idea of creating a garbage collection fee when he introduced his budget last month. Hannemann said the fee could be implemented next year; he did not speculate how much the city might charge.

A trash collection fee would bring Honolulu in line with the rest of the country, Hannemann said.

"We are the only county, the only city throughout America, I believe, that gives you your bins for free, provides twice-a-week pickup for free, and is preparing to do curbside recycling throughout the island for free," he said last month.

The fee could help the city fill a $176 million budget shortfall projected for the year beginning July 1, 2010. However, any attempt to levy a fee on trash collections is unlikely to go over well with the 200,000 or so homes that rely on the service.

Residential garbage collection is currently subsidized by property taxes. During the next fiscal year, the city is expected to spend $96 million on trash collection, or about $480 per household.

City Councilman Gary Okino said it's likely the city would seek to recoup more than half of that expense via a new fee. Any new fee wouldn't take effect until July 1, 2010, at the earliest.

Roughly speaking, a $20 a month, or $240 a year, residential fee could free up about $48 million a year for other city expenses, based on figures provide by the city. Implementing a trash collection fee is about finding money in ways that are fair to taxpayers, Okino said.

"We provide trash pickup basically to single-family homes, so we pay for it out of property taxes which everybody pays, but a segment of the population — those who live in apartments, condominiums — they don't get this service," Okino said. "The other thing that's driving it is the need for the money. We've got to find ways to equitably raise some fees. Looking forward to next year, we know the deficit is going to be a lot bigger."

HIGHER USER FEES

The city already is considering raising property tax rates and fees for services such as riding the bus, golfing at municipal courses and visiting the zoo under a budget proposed by Hannemann. Those and other steps, including the possible scuttling of the city's commuter ferry service, are needed to deal with a $50 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Honolulu would not be the only county in the state charging for trash collections. Maui County charges residents $68 a year, or $14 a month, for garbage collection.

Whether to charge a garbage collection fee and how much to charge will be determined by the planned $65,000 study, said Tim Steinberger, director of the Honolulu Department of Environmental Services.

The study, if approved, would take several months to complete and would provide the city with a better understanding of the costs associated with solid waste management, Steinberger said.

The study, which has already been budgeted for, would consider whether to charge a trash fee and, if so, how much the fee should be, Steinberger said during a recent City Council budget briefing.

"It's a discussion that certainly we'll be having with the budget director and the mayor and such. It is not a real simple issue because we have certain things like fixed-income households and I think we have to address all of this and I think that's what the study will come out with," Steinberger said.

The city's projected $176 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010, is based on an estimated 10 percent drop in real property tax revenues.

'BACKDOOR TAX'

At least one council member said he'd oppose a trash collection fee unless it were tied to a reduction in property taxes.

"It smells in more ways than one," Charles Djou said. "I don't like the idea of this because it's another backdoor tax increase."

The council has until June 15 to act on the budget ordinances and set property tax rates for the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010.