City Votes to Place Liens on 127 Properties with Delinquent Trash Bills

The 127 property owners with outstanding trash bills aren't likely to be happy with the city council's recent decision to put liens on their properties. 

With all voting yay, aside from councilman Perry Woodward who was absent, the city approved a request by  to send delinquent accounts to the Santa Clara County Auditor, and place liens totaling $35,052—the outstanding balance accumulated by tenants who failed to pay their trash bills—on the 127 properties.

Recology South Valley is the exclusive garbage collector for Gilroy, and is under contract to collect trash in the event of non-payment. 

There were initially 168 property owners who didn't pay their trash bills, which would have resulted in $47,000 in reclaimed debt, but City of Gilroy Finance Director Christina Turner said several property owners decided to pay their overdue bills by the time of the council's June 18 meeting.

Notices were sent out to delinquent property owners over the course of the year with a final pay date of June 15, and a final warning was issued May 2. Property owners also had the chance to appeal the issue of having liens placed on their properties during the council's April 17 meeting, Turner said.

Although Mayor Al Pinheiro approved the imposition of liens, he pleaded for city staff to come up with a better way to go after delinquent tenants and not punish property owners for the failure of their renters to pay.

"This is wrong," he said. "Owners don't pay PG&E bills that tenants don't pay. They don't pay the phone bills that tenants don't pay. It's got to be the responsibility of the tenant to pay their bill, not the owner."

Councilman Dion Bracco agreed with Pinheiro, saying renters aren't as concerned with defaulting on their trash or electrical bills because the responsibility falls on home owners. 

"Tenants know that if they don't pay their bill, there's nothing anybody is going to do to them," he said. "It really places a hardship on the property owner."

A member of the public suggested that the city consider putting the delinquent bill on tenants' credit reports after she found out that the lien stays with the property and not with the individual tenants. 

The motion passed with one caveat—councilman Bob Dillon requested that one property owner, who wrote a letter saying she could pay her bill by June 20, be given a 30-day extension. His request was granted.

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