Re “San Diego trash fee calculation was riddled with errors” (May 4): Notwithstanding the subhead on David Garrick’s story — “Faulty estimate an honest mistake, budget experts say” — and the many words he writes regarding this sordid subject, here are the pertinent facts:
The city provided the (“honest” mistake) estimate of $23-$29 for residential garbage collection.
This data was generated by the city’s independent budget analyst.
The mistake was then included in voter guides for the November 2022 ballot and city voters used it when making their voting decision regarding implementation of a new city tax for residential garbage collection.
The IBA-produced $23-$29 per month for garbage collection reasonably influenced the outcome of Measure B, which ed by less than 1 percentage point.
The IBA’s calculation was “riddled with errors” and corrupted the (razor-thin) outcome of Measure B. As such, Measure B ought to be rescinded. The City Council should act rapidly to effect the rescission to address the latest city of San Diego debacle.
— James Berg, San Diego
The Union-Tribune has done an excellent job covering the trash debacle that residents of San Diego are experiencing. It would be hard to imagine this area being handled by our city leaders any more poorly than what they have done.
The obvious question is this: We paid $4.5 million dollars for “experts” to give us a plan for trash collection and they put us in this position. So how much of that $4.5 million is going to be refunded to the city?
— Lynn Lowder, Bay Park
