STOCKTON, Calif. — It's trash day in Stockton's Lincoln Village neighborhood, but one side of Benjamin Holt Drive isn’t like the other.
"They're paying less and possibly getting better services," said San Joaquin County Supervisor Paul Canepa.
When it comes to garbage, people living on the south side of the busy street are in a trashy situation because they’re considered within a county pocket.
"Part of the unincorporated areas, why the rate is different is because sometimes they're not in as such a dense area," said Canepa. "My district is dense where people from the county can be right across the street from people in the city."
Canepa represents the area and some other county pockets like it. Because the area is technically part of the county, residents are impacted by the contracts signed by the board of supervisors instead of the contracts at Stockton's City Hall. This includes a current contract charging city customers $36.14 for solid waste, organics, recyclables and street sweeping services.
At the county level, the existing contract only includes a solid waste container and a recyclables container for a range of $33-62 a month depending on the area.
"There hadn't been an RFP for seven cycles at six years a cycle, so 42 years," said Canepa. "That was one of the questions that came up, is why hasn't it gone up for RFP?"
An RFP, or request for proposals, is how the county lets contractors bid for services. After 42 years of status quo, things are changing. The board requested county staffers look into the disparity.
"So they will do an evaluation to see what the rates are and what we're being paid," said Canepa. "Hopefully the carrier will make a good faith effort and fix it."
Supervisor Canepa hopes his constituents won't be throwing away money for much longer.
"Somebody brought it forward and we're asking the difficult questions," said Canepa. "(We're) trying to get the right thing done for the taxpayers."
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