by Matt Kastner 
Own real estate in the City of St. Louis? If you do, you probably hate paying that annoying 1% earning tax on your income, but at least that helps to cover trash collection fees for you right? Sadly, not anymore. The St. Louis Board of Alderman recently passed a bill, which returns trash pickups to two times a week and adds single-stream recycling bins in alleys. This containers are just now showing up around town.
There seems to be some level of uncertainty exactly when recycling containers will be in place citywide, but they are beginning to pop up. The recycling bin in this picture was found in the Shaw neighborhood. Since property owners now have to pay a $11 a month ($132 a year) fee per unit on their properties, hopefully this service will be expanding quickly.
The bonus of having easy recycling aside, this bill is going to hurt a lot of owner-occupants and investors. Especially those already on a tight budget or who own multi-families. With the fee being charged on a per unit basis, owners of a 4-family property now have to pay an additional annual fee of $528. This is a tough pill to swallow in terms of cash flow. Trash pickup has never been “free” in the City as many claim, it has just been paid for out of other tax sources. Now they are taking even more money while in the midst of a recession. These better be some magical recycling containers.
