Don C. Brunell: Cities Balancing Budgets with Fees

Have you carefully checked your utility bills lately? Most people don’t unless they are monsters like the ones for garbage in Scranton, PA, and Los Angeles.

In Vancouver, WA, our garbage and recycling bill now has an added 3.6 percent refuse tax. It costs us $1.29 more every two months.

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, in Scranton, residents started receiving a $300 annual trash collection fee which is a 68 percent increase since 2014. In LA, an assisted-living operator’s bill was less than $500 a month, but jumped to whopping $1,500.

Mayors and city councils find it is difficult...