The city of Lewiston is considering a change to the way trash is collected. In the future, the city will have two classes of citizens. Those who own their own homes and tenants who live in apartment buildings with four or more units.

Both pay their share of taxes. Homeowners pay directly to the city, while tenants pay their part through rent payments.

Homeowners will be afforded the right to have the city remove trash weekly and once a year during cleanup week. However, tenants will not have the same rights even though they are taxpayers. They will be penalized for not having a house.

In many cases those who can afford their own homes make more money then those who rent, but those who rent will have to pay more weekly for the same service.

If the trash collection is kept the same as it is now, the average homeowners’ taxes will go up $15 per year, according to the article in last week’s newspaper. If it is changed, the average cost passed on to tenants would be $70 a year.

A five-unit apartment building would see a fee of $350 annually added to the bottom line, which sounds like a very large tax increase – just in another form.

Coreen Robert, Minot