It’s time to start believing in a better future for San Diego — one where our elected leaders serve the voters who put them in office.
All of us are feeling the squeeze. San Diego is one of the most unaffordable cities in America. Rising housing costs, expensive groceries and climbing energy bills are stretching families to the breaking point. When residents are this squeezed, City Hall’s predictable response has been to charge us more.
The new trash tax is the latest glaring example.
On Monday, the Lincoln Club announced a ballot initiative to repeal the trash tax and deliver real relief. For more than a century, the city treated trash collection as a basic responsibility funded through general revenues. Instead of fixing its own spending problems, City Hall is now shifting the burden to residents. This ballot initiative is the direct response to growing frustration and a means to end the pattern of endlessly piling on new taxes and fees.
When Measure B was narrowly approved, we were promised fair and responsible modernization of trash services at a low rate. But this isn’t what we are getting. Instead, City Hall has quickly imposed a costly trash fee, nearly double what the public was originally told to expect, and now we are paying for it. That is the definition of a bait and switch. This is a symptom of a deeper problem, and we are tired of hearing that the only way to avoid a bleak future is by limiting library hours and closing city parks.
We have a unique moment right now. The California Constitution allows citizens to repeal city taxes and fees using a lower signature requirement than for other types of initiatives. The City Council set the trash tax for four years, and the Constitution only allows us to reduce the taxes that the city has already set, which as of now is through the first half of 2029.
To be clear, this isn’t just about trash collection, this is about how we expect our representatives to run our city and hold accountable those leaders who nickel-and-dime residents rather than fix the underlying budget problems. San Diego shouldn’t balance its books by charging families more every time a fiscal challenge arises. We have seen this approach with proposed parking fees at Balboa Park (recently scaled back after public backlash) and other efforts to turn public services into revenue generators.
That means the city must make tough decisions: prioritizing the core services residents rely on most, reining in spending instead of automatically reaching for our wallets and questioning whether every layer of spending is truly necessary.
Unfortunately, the trash tax is another distraction from the structural reforms necessary to make room for our better future. Reforms to the city pension system must be an item of focus and remain on the table to ensure long-term sustainability for taxpayers and city employees alike. Managed competition needs to be used more aggressively when it comes to city contracts — competitive bidding has proven it can save millions of dollars while improving efficiency and accountability.
We need to act now. The alternative is a steady stream of new taxes and fees that make San Diego even less affordable while doing little to address the real challenges inside City Hall.
San Diegans — we deserve better.
Repealing the trash tax won’t solve the budget crisis, but it will send a clear message to our representatives to stop the bait and switch, stop piling on new fees, fix the city’s problems instead of passing the bill to us — the taxpayers.
This is not the city that couldn’t — this is the city that can. San Diego can be a place where affordability, opportunity and accountability are the foundation of our success. The Lincoln Club is proud to stand with residents in this effort. Together we can stop the trash tax, restore accountability at City Hall, and keep San Diego a place where families and small businesses can afford to live and thrive.
Schnell is a board member of the Lincoln Club Business League and a local small business owner.