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(Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(a) The collection of the charges imposed under this article shall be under the direction, supervision, and control of the Director of Finance.
(b) The Director of Finance shall arrange for the billing and collection of, and accounting for, the charges imposed under this article through and by available facilities of the Department of Water and Power insofar as possible. The Director of the Office of Administrative and Research Services shall arrange for the payment to the Department of Water and Power of its costs of such services. To the extent the billing and collection by the Department of Water and Power is not deemed possible or practical by the Director of Finance, separate billing and collection services at reason- able intervals shall be provided by the Director of Finance.
(c) The charges imposed under this article shall be billed to and paid by the customer in whose name the electric meter serving each dwelling unit is listed upon the records of the Department of Water and Power, or, in the absence of such listing, as may be determined by the Director of Finance with the assistance of the Department of Public Works.
(d) The duty to collect the charges imposed under this article from each customer billed by the Department of Water and Power shall commence with the first billing submitted by said Department to each customer on or after the operative date of this article or as soon thereafter as administratively possible.
(e) The charges imposed under this article shall be billed by the Department of Water and Power in accordance with its regular billing practices, shall be added to and included on each applicable electric bill, as the case may be, and shall be due and payable to the City of Los Angeles through the Department of Water and Power at the time and in the manner of payment of said electric bill, and other charges made thereon.
(f) Where the Department of Water and Power does not supply electricity to a individual dwelling unit to which the City furnishes household refuse collection services, the customer liable for payment of the charges, as provided for in this article, shall be billed separately by the Director of Finance with the assistance of the Department of Public Works.
(g) All bills for the charges imposed under this article are due and payable upon presentation. Bills not paid within sixty (60) days after the date of presentation shall be deemed delinquent.
(h) Whenever the Director of Finance determines that a customer billed has deliberately withheld, failed or refused to pay all or any part or portion of the charges imposed under this article billed to said customer, or has failed to pay charges, or whenever the Director of Finance deems it to be in the best interest of the City, the Director of Finance shall serve notice on the customer billed of the customer’s delinquency.
Whenever the Director of Finance determines that a customer billed as provided for in this article has deliberately withheld, failed or refused to pay all or any part or portion of the charges imposed under this article billed to said customer by the Department of Water and Power, or has failed to pay said charges, or whenever the Director of Finance deems it to be in the best interest of the City, the Director of Finance may relieve the Department of Water and Power of any obligation it may have to bill or collect, or both, said charges from said customer billed, and assume the billing or collection, or both, thereof for the periods involved. If the Director of Finance, for whatever reason, assumes from the Department of Water and Power the direct billing or collection, or both, of the charges imposed under this article the Director of Finance may at said time so notify the customer billed and notify the customer of the customer’s delinquency, if such be the case.
The notice in either event shall be served on the customer billed by handing it to the customer personally, or by deposit in the United States mail, postage prepaid thereon, addressed to the customer billed at the address to which billing was made by the Department of Water and Power, or, if said address has been changed or the customer was not billed by the Department of Water and Power, then to the customer’s last known address. If the customer billed is delinquent and fails to pay the Director of Finance within fifteen (15) days from the date of service of the notice upon the customer which shall be the date of mailing if service is not accomplished by personal delivery, a penalty of twenty- five percent (25%) of the amount of the delinquent charges imposed under this article, but not less than $5.00, shall thereupon be imposed. The penalty shall be required to be paid in addition to all billings for the sanitation equipment charge.
(i) Whenever a payment mailed to the City is received after the time prescribed in this article for the receipt thereof, the Director of Finance or the Department of Water and Power, as the case may be, may accept proof that there had been a timely deposit thereof in the United States mail and that the no delinquency or penalty is applicable thereto.
(Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(a) The Director of Finance shall have the power and duty, and is hereby directed, to enforce all of the provisions of this article, and may make such rules and regulations as are consistent with the provisions of this article as may be necessary or desirable to aid in the administration and enforcement of the provisions of this article.
(b) For the purpose of determining the number of dwelling units contained in any building the Bureau of Sanitation may estimate the number of dwelling units contained in said building, after full consideration of all information within the Bureau’s knowledge.
(c) The Director of Finance, on behalf of and in the name of the City of Los Angeles, may enter into a written agreement, in a form approved by the City Attorney, with any customer indebted to the City pursuant to the terms of this article, obligating said customer to pay such indebtedness to the Director of Finance in monthly or more frequent installments, but in no event over a period greater than one year. In any such agreement such customer shall acknowledge the obligation owed to the City and the customer’s indebtedness thereon, shall agree that in the event of the customer’s failure to make timely payment of any installment thereof that the whole amount unpaid may be determined by the Director of Finance to be immediately due and payable, and shall agree to pay all costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred by or on behalf of the City in the collection thereof or for any legal proceeding commenced for that purpose.
(d) Whenever the amount of charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, is determined by the Department of Water and Power or by the Director of Finance to have been overpaid, paid more than once, or to have been erroneously collected or received by the City in whole or in part, the Department of Water and Power or the Director of Finance, as the case may be, may provide for correction thereof either by refund or by credit on future bills in their discretion. Any claim for such a refund or credit shall be filed with the Director of Finance by the person paying the alleged overpayment within six months of such payment.
(e) Where there is a dispute with respect to the charges or penalty imposed under this article, or both, the Director of Finance, with the written approval of the City Attorney and subject to the provisions of the Charter of the City of Los Angeles, may compromise the City’s claim for said charges or penalty, or both, where the portion of the claim proposed to be released is less than $5,000.00; and, with the approval of the City Attorney and the City Council, may compromise such a claim where the portion proposed to be released is $5,000.00 or more.
The charges imposed under this article, and any penalty thereon, shall be a civil debt owing to the City of Los Angeles from the occupants or owner, or both, of each dwelling unit receiving City household refuse collection services, or from any other customer billed as provided in this article. Any customer owing money to the City under the provisions of this article shall be liable in an action brought in the name of the City of Los Angeles in any court of competent jurisdiction for the recovery of such amount, including any penalty imposed under this article.
(Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
If the Director of Finance cannot collect the charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, or that efforts to collect any such amount would be disproportionately costly with relation to the probable outcome of the collection efforts, the Director of Finance may prepare a report setting forth their finding and the reasons therefor, and submit it to a Board of Review which shall be composed of the City Controller, the Director of Finance and the City Attorney, or the duly appointed representative of each. The Board of Review may call for additional evidence which it may deem relevant. Upon unanimous approval of a finding by the Board of Review, the Director of Finance may remove from the Director’s active accounts receivable said unpaid charges and penalty, or either of them. If the Board of Review does not unanimously recommend approval of the finding, the matter shall be returned to the Director of Finance. The Director of Finance may include in a single report their findings and supporting reasons regarding the charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, due from more than one customer. The removal from the active accounts receivable of the Director of Finance of any unpaid charges and penalty imposed under this article, or either of them, shall not preclude the City from collecting or attempting to collect any such charges and penalty, or either of them.
In the event a customer does not own or occupy a dwelling unit for any month for which the customer has paid the charge, the customer shall submit evidence to the Department of Public Works in support of a refund and if the Department is satisfied such a refund is warranted it shall so provide it. Any request for such a refund, however, must be within six months of the payment by the customer for which the refund is sought and must be submitted to the Director of Finance. (Amended by Ord. No. 173,293, Eff. 6/30/00, Oper. 7/1/00.)
(Added by Ord. No. 170,868, Eff. 2/19/96.)
A. DECLARATION OF POLICY. It is hereby declared, in order for the City of Los Angeles to be prepared to respond to the needs of its citizens for adequate solid waste disposal alternatives in the future, that recognition of the following is necessary: the greater Los Angeles area has limited landfill capacity available for solid waste disposal; new landfills are difficult to site and permit; and the State has imposed recycling and waste reduction requirements in order to reduce the total amount of solid waste going to landfill by 25% and 50% by 1995 and 2000, respectively. Further, the State has imposed a 50% and 75% reduction in the level of the statewide disposal of organic waste from the 2014 level, by 2020 and 2025, respectively. Therefore, the City must establish a clear policy to provide an incentive for residents to reduce and to recycle the quantity of solid waste they generate. To this end, the City has developed a standard allowance for collection and management of refuse, source-separated recyclables and/or commingled recyclables, source- separated organic waste, and horse manure, which the City deems adequate to meet the requirements of the average Dwelling Unit as defined in Section 66.40. The City hereby declares that the standard allowance for a Single Family Dwelling shall be one 60-gallon black container for refuse, one 90-gallon blue container for source-separated recyclables and/or commingled recyclables, and one 90-gallon green container for source-separated organic waste. The standard allowance for a Multiple Dwelling is one 60-gallon black container per Dwelling Unit, one 90-gallon blue container per Dwelling Unit, and one 90-gallon green container for the Multiple Dwelling. Additional capacity above and beyond this standard allowance may be made available for various fees as described in this Code. (Amended by Ord. No. 187,711, Eff. 1/18/23.)
B. CONTINUOUS EXTRA CAPACITY.
1. A $5.00 per month fee will be charged for each 30-gallon increment of extra refuse capacity made available to a dwelling unit by replacing the standard allowance 60-gallon black container with a single larger, 90-gallon black container or issuing additional 30, 60 or 90-gallon black containers.
Residents who qualify for the lifeline requirements as set forth in LAMC Section 21.1.12 shall receive the first 30 gallons of extra refuse capacity at no charge and additional capacity beyond the first 30 gallons at 50 % of the extra refuse capacity fee.
High Density Households who qualify under the Department of Water and Power (DWP) water rate program shall receive the first 30 gallons of extra capacity without charge if their household has 7 to 10 residents and shall receive the first 60 gallons of extra capacity without charge if their household has over 11 residents. Additional increments beyond those increments shall be charge at the regular fee.
2. A $5.00 per month fee will be charged for each 30-gallon increment of horse manure capacity requested by a resident for a dwelling unit. The City will issue specially marked 30, 60 or 90 gallon green containers for the limited purpose of horse manure pickup.
3. A fee of $2.50 per month will be charged for each 30-gallon increment of extra source-separated organic waste capacity made available to a Single Family Dwelling or a Multiple Dwelling in addition to the standard allowance of a 90-gallon green container by issuing additional 30, 60, or 90-gallon green container(s). (Amended by Ord. No. 187,711, Eff. 1/18/23.)
4. The fees described in Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of this section will be billed through the DWP bill on the line item generally titled Sanitation Equipment Charge where it will be added to the existing charges found thereon and deposited to the Sanitation Equipment Charge Special Revenue Fund. Larger, or extra containers, will be delivered to a dwelling unit at a resident’s request, and will be recorded through the container serial number to the name of the person appearing on the DWP bill, or their designated agent, for each respective dwelling unit. The fee imposed by this article shall be a joint and several charge against the occupants and the owner of each dwelling unit subject to the charge. Residents may use this extra capacity once per week on their regular collection day. Failure to use all of the requested extra capacity will not relieve the resident from paying the monthly extra capacity fee. The fees will be collected as described in LAMC Sections 66.43, 66.44, 66.45, 66.46 and 66.47.
C. INTERMITTENT EXTRA CAPACITY. Residents of all dwelling units shall have the ability to purchase the right to have additional refuse, horse manure or yard trimmings collected by the City on a collection day to collection day basis. The resident requiring this additional intermittent capacity shall purchase from the City, at a cost of $2.00 per 30 gallons of additional capacity, a special tag to be placed on the additional materials for collection. The tags must be purchased in advance, in person at various locations throughout the City, or through the mail, and can be utilized only on the regular collection day. Each tag may be used only one time. (Amended by Ord. No. 178,875, Eff. 7/23/07.)
D. IMPLEMENTATION.
1. The Board shall have the power and duty, and is hereby directed to enforce all of the provisions of this article, except as otherwise set forth herein, and shall provide such rules and regulations as are consistent with the provisions of this article and as may be necessary or desirable to aid in the administration, including adjustments and enforcement of the extra capacity charge.
2. The Board or any of its authorized representative may make such inspections or investigations as said Board deems necessary at any reasonable time on any premises or lot for the purpose of determining the number, size, and type of automated collection containers.
E. EFFECTIVE DATE. The fees described in Subsections B and C will become effective starting 30 days after DWP notifies the Office of Finance (Amended by Ord. No. 173,587, Eff. 12/7/00.) that its billing system has been modified to include the Extra Capacity Fees.
F. FEE ADJUSTMENTS. The fees described herein shall be reviewed on a yearly basis to determine if any adjustments need to be made to cover changes in operating cost.
Nothing contained in this article shall prevent the erection of signs or structures over streets containing words or figures commemorating a historical, cultural, or artistic event or location in accordance with Section 67.29 hereof. Such signs or structures shall be erected, constructed and maintained in a safe and secure manner approved by the Board. All such signs or structures shall be constructed to withstand from any direction a wind pressure of 30 pounds per square foot of exposed surface. (Added by Ord. No. 135,775, Eff. 1/13/68.)
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