Trash Collection - HOA not allowing City provided services owners pay for.

You’re right, trash will always be an issue, but you have to find the best way to address it and there is no silver bullet. The cops have to catch people in the act before they can do anything (one reason we got the cameras).

I understand the concern about cost for the residents on fixed income (I’m heading in that direction which is why I’m trying to get rid of my big bills before I retire). However, home ownership isn’t and never has been cheap. Once upon a time, companies would automatically haul away this stuff when you bought a new item (e.g. washing machines), but now you have to pay for delivery, installation AND hauling away of the old stuff (sometimes, they’ll give it to you if you buy a $2K+ refrigerator or something else listed in House Beautiful or Dwell magazine). I found this out the hard way last December when I replaced my washer and dryer. In addition to the usual cost comparison of the machines and who sold them, I had to pay close attention to who provided what in terms of installation and all that so I could get some things combined, if possible

I would think you and your neighbors aren’t dumping heavy trash every week, so what’s the problem with calling 311 when you do have it? If the residents can’t make arrangements to get rid of this stuff themselves, you’re left with the city service. If you don’t want the entire community looking like the city dump, you do what you can as much as you can. You might not be an upscale community, but that doesn't mean you should want your community to look every which way. Doing so might discourage prospective buyers, dragging down property values - something I'm sure you and your neighbors care about a great deal.

By the way, ElleN, my property taxes also cover trash pickup, but that didn’t stop my community from nearly LOSING our service because of the illegal dumping. A few years ago the city changed the rules to where HOAs have to contract separately with the vendors who provide city trash pickup). That’s what prompted us to pay more money for the security cameras.

I don’t know if a recycling program would help Pat’s community, but it might be worth trying. I’d love it if we could get recycling – some cities add that to property taxes, but not in my city because people would (and have) howl about property tax increases. So you either pay for a separate trash cart or take your stuff to designated dumpsters in your area.

However, one of our local representatives recently noted the recycling dumpster near her office had boxes and bags of stuff left around the dumpster when it was full instead of taking them home and waiting for it to be emptied (they do that twice a week, I think). Instead, people simply leave making a mess because they’re lazy. Some of the dumpsters were in grocery store parking lots, as well as the city parks. This was convenient but because too many people don’t give a damn, they had to be moved because it cost time and money to clean up the parking lot nearly every day.

Back to you, Pat - what did the board say when you asked them what prompted the change? You did ask them, correct? If not, why not? What have you noticed in your community over, say the last 6 months? Has there been an increase in heavy trash appearing in your dumpsters? What about strange cars and trucks showing up? In my community, our cameras caught several construction companies who were dumping their shit in our dumpsters – that could another part of your problem. Residents have been told if they see people in the act, don’t confront them, but take notes (and a cell phone photo if you can do it without being seen) and notify the non-emergency number of the police as well as the city.

No, you probably won’t get a refund from the city (you’re still tossing regular trash), but you’ll likely need several approaches to reduce the heavy trash issue. Now that you know the board isn’t supposed to dump illegal stuff in the dumpsters, go to the next meeting and call them out on that. Then start asking for numbers, starting with how much the community has had to pay in getting someone to clean out the dumpsters so the rest of you can put in the trash that’s supposed to be there. It was costing us $15K a year. Could it be some residents are telling their kids/grandkids/friends/home improvement contractors “oh, you can dump that in our dumpster around the corner? Some education of the residents might be warranted. Good luck!