NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans households began paying $32.25 a month for trash collection on 1 October 2026, up from $24, after the City Council voted six to one on 3 September 2026 to raise the residential sanitation fee. BGR, an independent group, set out the increase in its report “More Cash for Trash”, published on 16 October 2026.

The rise is $8.25 a month. That is about 34 per cent, or roughly $99 a year, by this desk’s calculation. Non-residential customers moved from $48 to $64.50 a month. It is the first increase since 2011. The city announced the reset on 28 August 2026.

Households are paying about $99 more a year for the same once-a-week pickup because the fee never covered what collection actually cost. The rise moves that shortfall off the General Fund and onto the bill, and from 2028 the fee will keep moving with costs every year.

The Tension

Households get no extra service for the extra money. Trash and recycling pickup stays once a week.

What changes is who covers the cost of collection. BGR says the fee raised less than the service cost for years, and the city’s General Fund made up the difference.

Gambit said officials took an additional $21.7 million from the city’s operating budget in 2025 to cover the gap between $38.2 million raised by the fee and nearly $60 million in costs.

BGR says the cost of collecting and disposing of the city’s trash rose from $35.7 million in 2021 to a projected $61.2 million in 2026, driven largely by new contracts signed after Hurricane Ida.

The General Fund dollars that covered the difference could have paid for police, streets and other services, BGR says.

Jason Hughes, a council member, cast the only vote against the increase.

The vote also changed how the fee is set. From 2028 the fee will reset every year based on the cost of the service, so the amount on the bill will move with what collection costs.

BGR says the city must publish the first new fee and explain how it was calculated by 1 October 2027. That fee takes effect on 1 January 2028.

BGR says the ordinance does not require the city to check whether trash costs are reasonable before passing them on to residents.

The Noise

The size of the 2025 shortfall shifts depending on who is counting.

Gambit put the gap at $21.7 million. WDSU said the mayor’s 2025 figures were $38.2 million collected against $59.3 million spent. That works out at about $21.1 million by this desk’s calculation.

WDSU and Fox8 both rounded the gap to $21 million or a little more. The $21.7 million figure rests on Gambit alone.

The difference between the Gambit figure and the mayor’s figures is about $600,000 on a bill of nearly $60 million, by this desk’s calculation. All three outlets put the shortfall at $21 million or more.

The fee covered about 64 per cent of what the service cost in 2025, on the mayor’s figures as WDSU reported them, by this desk’s calculation. The General Fund paid the rest.

Gambit says the money came from the city’s operating budget. That is the same General Fund BGR describes.

The move from $24 to $32.25 applies to residential accounts. Non-residential accounts went from $48 to $64.50, a rise of $16.50 a month and the same 34 per cent by this desk’s calculation.

The city announced the fee reset on 28 August 2026. The council voted on 3 September 2026 and the new fee took effect on 1 October 2026.

That increase is a single step, the first since 2011. From 2028 the fee moves every year with the cost of the service.

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