Opinion ID: 1407029
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: exemption from payment of refuse charge

Text: We begin this analysis by recognizing that the Ordinance is silent as to whether any resident of the City of Princeton can escape paying the residential refuse fee by choosing not to use the municipal service. The City asserts that there is a mandatory charge for refuse collection and disposal regardless of actual use, and that the compulsory nature of the charge is a reasonable and valid exercise of the City's police power. The appellants argue that because their refuse collection and disposal is not performed by the City of Princeton and they do not use the service for which they are billed, the Ordinance is unreasonable as it applies to them. The appellants fail to recognize that the municipal charge is not just for collecting and disposing of refuse from their places of residence. The sum of all charges are marshalled and designed to defray the expense of a systemic refuse disposal scheme within the City of Princeton. In other words, the purpose of the Ordinance is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the entire community. An argument similar to that made by the appellants was addressed in Craig v. City of Macon, 543 S.W.2d 772 (Mo.1976) (en banc). In upholding the validity of a mandatory fee regardless of actual use, the court in Craig reasoned: Nonetheless, appellants contend that because they do not have their garbage removed, they do not use the service for which they are billed, and therefore, the ordinances are unreasonable. Appellants, however, erroneously assume that the only benefit conferred by the statute is the removal of one's own garbage. The legislative intent and the purpose of the city's ordinances are not primarily to remove waste from the community for the convenience of residents, but rather to protect the public health by regulating the collection and disposal of garbage, and thereby minimizing or eliminating a source of disease. Although the appellants may not have waste to be collected, the regulatory scheme protects the entire public, not just those who have waste for disposal, by responsibly removing a source of disease from the community. Id. at 774-75. The appellants attempt to emphasize that a service fee cannot be imposed against a non-user. [5] The fallacy in this reasoning is that the appellants are users of the municipal service, in a real sense, regardless of how they choose to dispose of refuse because they receive the benefit from the general disposal system. All residents, regardless of how they personally choose to dispose of their refuse, receive a benefit in the collection and disposal of refuse from other premises in the community. The City of Princeton enacted the Ordinance under the plenary power and authority of W.Va.Code 8-13-13 (1971) and charges all residents the service fee because residents are the primary users of the refuse collection and disposal service. [6] An ordinance which provides for a fee assessment to users of a special service must reasonably classify the users, and the services for such a charge must be in conformity with state laws. City of Moundsville v. Steele, 152 W.Va. 465, 164 S.E.2d 430 (1968). We hold that a municipality acts reasonably in the exercise of its plenary power and authority under W.Va.Code 8-13-13 (1971), when it enacts an ordinance imposing a residential refuse collection and disposal fee which by implication classifies residents as users. Other jurisdictions have similarly concluded that a municipality is justified in collecting a service fee for refuse collection and disposal regardless of whether a resident actually uses the municipal service. City of Portsmouth v. McGraw, 21 Ohio St.3d 117, 488 N.E.2d 472 (1986); Craig v. City of Macon, 543 S.W.2d 772 (Mo.1976) (en banc); City of Glendale v. Trondsen, 48 Cal.2d 93, 308 P.2d 1, 5-6 (1957) (en banc); Cassidy v. City of Bowling Green, 368 S.W.2d 318, 319-20 (Ky. 1963); City of Hobbs v. Chesport, Ltd., 76 N.M. 609, 417 P.2d 210, 214 (1966); Owens v. City of Beresford, 87 S.D. 8, 201 N.W.2d 890, 891, 894 (S.D.1972). The City of Princeton has enacted an ordinance which is designed to address a public health problem, and the solution to the problem for the benefit of all citizens of Princeton binds the entire community to subsidize a uniform and efficient system of refuse collection and disposal. We conclude that an Ordinance imposing a mandatory service fee on the collection and removal of residential refuse regardless of actual use, in order to prevent a health menace from imperiling an entire community, is a reasonable and valid exercise of the police powers granted to the City of Princeton under W.Va.Code 8-13-13 (1971).