CITY OF HAWAIIAN GARDENS
RESOLUTION NO. 026-2026
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF HAWAIIAN
GARDENS, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
ESTABLISHING CUSTOMER RATES FOR SOLID WASTE SERVICE
EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2026
WHEREAS, Chapter 6.12 of the Hawaiian Gardens Municipal Code establishes regulations for the collection and removal of garbage and rubbish, and authorizes the City Council to enter a solid waste franchise agreement with a company contracted to serve as the City’s trash collector; and
WHEREAS, on November 19, 2019, the City reassigned the exclusive solid waste collection franchise to Waste Resources, Inc. (“WRI”) from the previous service provider, and has served as the City’s exclusive waste hauler until just recently; and WHEREAS, on October 22, 2025, the Hawaiian Gardens City Council adopted Resolution No. 031-2025, consenting to a second reassignment of the exclusive solid waste collection franchise, this time to Waste Management (“WM”), which took effect on May 1, 2026; and
WHEREAS, WM accepted the existing rates for Solid Waste Services (“Solid Waste Service Rates”) currently in place but is entitled to request an annual rate adjustment to be applied on the anniversary date of the Agreement (i.e., July 1st), during the Term thereof.
All rate adjustment requests are subject to City approval prior to application, provided that such approval complies with the requirements of Proposition 218 and the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act; and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that it is necessary to increase the Solid Waste Service Rates that WM may impose on its solid waste customers and WHEREAS, in accordance with Section 6(a) of Article XIII D of the California Constitution (Proposition 218), the City caused notices to be timely mailed to the customers and rate payers affected by the requested rate increase; and WHEREAS, said notices advised customers and rate payers that the rates for the collection of solid waste are proposed to be increased as set forth in the table attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by this reference; and WHEREAS, the City Council held a duly noticed public protest hearing on August 26, 2026, to receive comments and protests on the proposed solid waste rate increase; and
WHEREAS, the City Council considered the staff report and other documentation concerning the proposed rate increase and all of the information, testimony, and evidence presented at the public hearing; and
Attachment B
WHEREAS, at the conclusion of the public hearing, the City Clerk tabulated the number of written protests received and reported that there was not a majority protest by property owners or customers of record of the identified and affected properties. The City conducted this majority protest proceeding in an abundance of caution and without conceding the applicability of Proposition 218 to privately provided solid waste service.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Hawaiian Gardens does hereby find that:
Section 1. The foregoing recitals are true and correct and incorporated herein by this reference.
Section 2. The maximum solid waste service fees shown on the attached Exhibit A are hereby adopted by the City Council, are incorporated herein by reference, and shall become effective on October 1, 2026, with maximum authorized annual increases thereafter through June 30, 2031. The rates established by this resolution shall supersede any previously adopted fees, charges, resolutions, or other regulations, to the extent of any conflict.
Section 3. Each year of the Proposition 218 noticed period as identified on Exhibit A, prior to the approval of solid waste rates for each year, staff will return to Council with a report on the state of the solid waste services and recommendation for the rate setting for that year and whether to impose the maximum rates set forth in Exhibit A of this Resolution; provided, however, that such rates as identified in Exhibit A may further be increased for either inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CUUR0000SA0), All Items, not seasonally adjusted – U.S. City Average, March to March; or, including on permanent and temporary clean-up bins and roll-off services, to account for any increase in the per ton tipping fees imposed on WM by the Los Angeles County Sanitization Districts or any other public agency for disposal and/or processing of solid waste; provided further, however, that added together, in no event shall the rates set forth in Exhibit A be increased for either inflation (CPI) or the disposal pass-through in any single year by more than 25%, and in no event may a pass-through of disposal costs exceed the City’s cost of providing solid waste services. Prior to implementation of any such passthrough, notice will be provided to property owners by mail at least 30 days in advance.
Section 4. The rates established by this Resolution are for the purpose of maintaining and continuing the provision of the City's solid waste services, and are in consideration of the following:
1) The current provision of below-cost services and projected increases in the costs of operations provided by WM for solid waste collection, disposal, and processing services, including due to CPI increases and disposal pass-through cost; 2) Administrative and regulatory costs of providing these services, including billing and collection of the service fees; and
3) Provide new automated collection carts to all recipients of curbside collection services; and
4) Provide for unfunded mandatory organic recycling services.
Section 5. This action is statutorily exempt from the environmental review requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21080(b)(8) and CEQA Guidelines section 15273(a)(1).
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the Hawaiian Gardens City Council held this 26th day of August 2026. ______________________________
MARIA TERESA DEL RIO
MAYOR
ATTEST:
______________________________
PABLO RUBIO
CITY CLERK