Having your garbage collected regularly is an essential service that most of us take for granted. We put our trash and recycling bins out on the curb once a week without thinking much about what happens after the truck comes to take it all away. But garbage collection doesn’t just magically happen – it’s a service provided by your local government or by private companies contracted by the city. And like all services, it needs to be paid for. So what happens if you fall behind on paying your garbage bill?
Overview of Garbage Bill Late Fees and Penalties
Garbage collection is typically paid for through taxes or utility bills. If it’s part of your property taxes, failure to pay can result in the same penalties as not paying other property taxes, like fines or even a lien being placed on your home. If it’s a separate utility bill, late fees and service shut-offs may happen, similar to what occurs with overdue water or electric bills.
Many cities impose late fees starting 30 days after a garbage bill is due. These range from 1-5% of the overdue amount. After 60-90 days of nonpayment, more aggressive collection efforts kick in, like sending a final shutoff notice. Failure to pay this final bill typically triggers garbage service suspension. The city or contracted waste company simply won’t pick up your trash anymore.
Getting Garbage Service Suspended Comes With Big Headaches
Going even a couple weeks without trash pickup can become a major problem Piles of waste accumulate rapidly, leading to ugly, smelly, and unsanitary conditions Rotting garbage also attracts flies, rats, and other vermin. Neighbors start to complain about the mess and health hazards. The city may get involved and hit you with health code violations on top of fines for nonpayment.
Having garbage service suspended due to an overdue bill is more than just an inconvenience – it can spiral into a serious legal and financial issue if left unresolved. Once service is cut off, most municipalities require the past due balance to be paid in full, along with additional fees, before collecting trash again. This can leave struggling households in a difficult situation.
Options If You Can’t Afford to Pay Your Garbage Bill
Sometimes falling behind on bills is unavoidable due to job loss, medical issues, or other financial hardship. Here are some options if you are unable to pay your garbage bill:
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Request an extension or payment plan: Contact your waste collection provider, explain your situation, and ask for a reasonable payment plan that works with your budget. This allows you to pay what you can over time while keeping service active.
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Apply for financial assistance Many cities offer assistance programs to help low-income residents cover essential utility costs like garbage collection. Look into eligibility requirements for grants, subsidies, or discounted rates.
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Temporary self-haul to landfill: As a last resort, you may have to self-haul your trash to the local dump or transfer station until you can pay your past-due garbage bill. There are typically fees for dumping that still have to be paid.
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Share bins with a neighbor: Ask a neighbor if you can temporarily put bags in their bins for pickup. Offer to share disposal costs or exchange for other helpful favors.
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Reduce waste: Cut down on trash production to delay when bins fill up. Recycle and compost as much as possible.
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Barter services Offer handyman work, babysitting, pet care, etc in exchange for a neighbor paying your garbage bill or sharing their bins
Repercussions of Illegally Dumping Trash
With no collection service, some may resort to illegal dumping of garbage in vacant lots, countryside roadways, parks, or other public areas. This poses health risks, environmental damage, and significant legal consequences if caught.
Illegal dumping can result in fines up to $5,000, lawsuits, and even criminal charges depending on the severity, cost of cleanup, and repeat offenses. Some illegal dumping cases even result in jail time. Getting caught illegally disposing of trash also commonly leads to your vehicle being impounded if used to dump unlawfully. The risks simply aren’t worth it compared to resolving your collection bill payment responsibly.
Partner With Your Waste Company to Prevent Suspended Service
The best solution is avoiding a lapse in garbage service in the first place by communicating with your waste provider. Contact them promptly if you get behind on payments and work out an arrangement. Responsible collection companies will make reasonable efforts to enable customers to pay overdue balances while keeping service active, as they would prefer collecting some payment rather than none at all.
Be proactive by contacting billing departments quickly if you are struggling to pay on time due to financial hardship. Explain your situation honestly and request an alternate payment plan or temporary fee reduction. Qualifying for grants, subsidies, or waived late fees can help ease the burden. Just make sure you follow up on any agreed arrangements in good faith.
Most waste management companies understand that unforeseen circumstances can make bills difficult to pay. Bypartnering with customers to work through issues, they can prevent the much larger problem of suspended collection while recovering revenue. A little flexibility goes a long way to avoid unnecessarily severe outcomes for delinquent accounts.
Keep Up Open Communication to Avoid Service Disruptions
The worst thing you can do is ignore letters and calls about overdue garbage bills until your service gets cut off. This creates added headaches and risks compared to proactively communicating and providing any documentation needed to explain your financial hardship. Waste companies can’t offer help or payment options if they don’t know you have an issue making payments.
By maintaining open dialogue about your situation and clearly conveying an intent to pay what you can, when you can, waste collectors are much more willing to continue working with you. Silence and inaction are more likely to trigger penalties. No waste company wants to suspend service if another reasonable solution exists.
Review Payment and Assistance Options Annually
Your garbage bill should be part of your annual household budget review. Check if there are subsidy programs you now qualify for based on income changes. See if auto-pay discounts or paperless billing are available to make payments more affordable. Renegotiate your collection rates and fees as allowed. Adjusting monthly payments to stay in sync with your current budget helps avoid large overdue balances down the road.
Consider adding waste bill accounts to credit counseling or debt management plans if managing payments is a persistent struggle. Review all options annually to make sure you aren’t missing changes that could make your sanitation services more financially sustainable over the long run.
Don’t Let Trash Collection Lapses Damage Community Health and Safety
Garbage collection is one of those overlooked services that we take for granted, until it gets disrupted. Unpaid trash bills not only create financial issues for households and waste providers, they can quickly escalate into public health hazards if illegally dumped or allowed to accumulate.
By staying in communication with your waste company and taking advantage of any available assistance programs, you can avoid falling severely behind on payments. If you do get overdue notices, interact promptly and honestly to make alternate arrangements. Your community relies on each household responsibly handling waste. We all pay bills and taxes to enjoy clean, healthy, sustainable towns and cities free of vermin and refuse piles. With cooperation and smart budgeting, suspended services and illegal dumping don’t have to be the outcome.
Garbage Assessment Inquiry Form
The City of Saint Paul gives you the opportunity to dispute any Delinquent Garbage Assessments. If you have received a notice from the City of Saint Paul (Invoice and Final Notice OR Public Hearing Notice) regarding a Delinquent Garbage Assessment and would like to dispute it, please fill out the form below:
Garbage Service Billing Process
- Haulers mail out invoices on the 5th day of the first month of quarterly service (January, April, July, and October). The invoice covers the next three months. Ex. January bill is for service provided January, February, March.
- Payment is due the 25th of the billing month. In order for your hauler to receive payment, it must clear your bank or financial institution by the due date.
- Payments not received by the due date, will incur a late fee of 5% and the end of each month of the billing cycle. Up to three late fees are possible per billing cycle.
- At the end of the quarter, all unpaid bills are turned over to the City for assessment. Your hauler can no longer take payment for that quarter.
It is now classified as a pending property tax assessment* with the city. Your hauler can no longer take payment for this quarterly bill. The City of Saint Paul will send out an Invoice and Final Notice to the resident. The resident then has 30 days to pay the pending assessment. After 30 days the pending assessment will be sent for approval through the ratification of assessment process to be added to the residents property taxes. During this time you can pay your bill online or by mail, for more information on payment options visit Assessments.
*If you have general questions about the assessment process, you can contact the assessment department at 651-266-8858.
If the City of Saint Paul does not receive payment of the delinquent charges by the due date on the “Invoice and Final Notice,” the City will send out a second notice titled Public Hearing Notice Ratification of Assessment. This will include a scheduled date, time, and location for a legislative hearing that residents are able to attend if they wish to contest the assessment. Please note that it is not mandatory to attend these hearings. The notice will include a webform URL to enter your request for a legislative hearing at the assigned date and time. Please call 651-266-6101 if you need assistance.
To contest the assessment, submit a request for a legislative hearing online or by phone 651-266-6101 and attend the scheduled hearing date. During your hearing, the legislative hearing officer will make a recommendation about the assessment. This recommendation will be provided to the City Council for their approval of the final assessment roll. If you disagree with the legislative hearing officer’s recommendation, you may attend the City Council hearing to dispute the recommendation.
If the pending assessment is still unpaid at the time of the scheduled City Council Hearing, it will be approved by City Council and the balance will be sent to Ramsey County to be assessed to your property. If a bill is assessed to the property by Ramsey County, it will incur additional administration fees of $2.50. You can pay the bill with Ramsey County Property Taxes.
Didn’t Pay Your Garbage Bill?
Can I get incarcerated for not paying my trash bill?
Ask a lawyer – it’s free! Citizens and residents of this country are not incarcerated for failure to pay civil claims. The only recourse the trash collection company or agency (assuming it is a municipal agency) has to collect an unpaid bill is to file a claim in civil court and seek a judicial order requiring payment.
What if I don’t pay my utility bills?
Laws for disconnecting services vary widely by state. You may qualify for a grant to help you make utility payments. If you’re experiencing financial troubles and are lacking cash in your checking account, you may have no other option but to pay some bills late or skip payments altogether.
What happens if I miss a utility bill?
Your utility bills are the payments you make for essential services like electricity, water, and gas. If you miss your utility payments, you’ll typically be hit with a late fee that will appear on your next statement. However, if you don’t make payments over an extended period, you risk disconnection and having your account sent to collections.
Should a trash bill be a mandatory expense?
When you’re accustomed to paying a bill, like your trash bill, every month, it’s easy to just chalk it as a mandatory expense, but it doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think. For us, going from not having a trash bill at all, to suddenly having to pay for trash pickup really made us think twice.