BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 For over an hour at a Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting in 2023, county residents blasted the Board, and it was for one stinky situation \u2014 literally.<\/p>\n
The reason for the fiery speeches? A rural trash tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe genesis for this was to improve the environment and decrease methane gas,\u201d said Kern County District 3 Supervisor Jeff Flores. \u201cHowever, in Kern County, you know, we\u2019re a unique area. We\u2019re rural. Some of our citizens have fixed incomes. This one-size approach didn\u2019t necessarily benefit Kern.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We had to do something\u2019: Rural Kern communities look to fight proposed county trash tax one signature at a time <\/a><\/p>\n That one-size approach came in the form of Senate Bill 1383. The bill requires cities and counties to reduce organic waste disposal by 75% by 2025.<\/p>\n If the county doesn\u2019t meet this deadline, they could face fees from the state.<\/p>\n The Board\u2019s 2023 proposal of the trash tax would require rural residents to pay a small fee for trash collection and sorting. The proposal was met with harsh words.<\/p>\n \u201cThis whole thing stinks because the state of California has missed every deadline so far that they had to meet to put this thing into action,\u201d said Richard Moglia, a community member, at the December 2023 meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe plans that they were going to use to convert the methane gas into something they could put into cars and that they don\u2019t have anymore \u2026 The state is not going to meet any of the goals that they required.\u201d<\/p>\n According to another California law, the affected rural areas could petition to formally oppose the measure. If a majority of the city\u2019s residents reach a population-specific threshold, they can kill the measure in the area.<\/p>\n In 2023, six towns successfully killed the measure.<\/p>\n \u201cMany folks in Kern County, to your point, came out to our Board of Supervisors meetings. They voiced their concerns. They were adamant about not paying this increase in fee,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s new proposal would implement the trash tax but allow local resident to opt out of the service. Residents who opt out can then drop their trash off at nearby self-haul areas.<\/p>\n