LEWISTON — The city may consider some changes to the way trash is collected at multi-unit apartment buildings to help local landlords, City Administrator Ed Barrett said Tuesday.

“It’s a difficult issue,” Barrett told councilors during a workshop meeting. “I think the system we have now is very confusing to the landlords, administratively burdensome and makes not a whole lot of sense.”

The city collects trash free of charge at single-family units and duplexes and at three-unit buildings if the building owner lives in one of the units. Owners living in their four unit buildings get a credit from the city for their own trash collection. 

Buildings with more apartments can pay to have the city collect their buildings’ trash. Those who choose to leave the city’s system have no way to come back.

“Ever since then, the program has been tweaked to make it easier for people to get back into the program,” Barrett said.

Councilors in April began considering a range of programs to help local landlords and to promote the redevelopment of downtown housing stock. They include loans and grants for small and medium-sized properties, landlord training programs and policies that target problem properties, encourage investors to work with abandoned properties and help fund downtown housing programs.

Barrett said he has continued working with landlords, and trash collection is a big concern for them. There is not a solid agreement among city landlords on how the program should change, he said.

“Some would like to see the charge eliminated entirely, that we would just collect from everybody,” Barrett said. “Others think it should be applied to very large units, maybe up to 10-unit buildings. Others would like to see it go to four, to six or to eight.”

Barrett said not charging to collect trash at buildings with up to 10 units would cost the city up to $500,000 in lost fees and new expenses.

Barrett said he did not yet have a solution.

“I hope at some point we can revisit this and take a hard look at it,” Barrett said. “It has some implications, but it’s not something we can do anything about in this budget.”

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