Iorio scraps garbage fee increase

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio today withdrew her proposal to increase solid waste fees by about $1.80 a month. Iorio introduced the plan in February as a way to offset a $17-million budget shortfall. She estimated the fee increase would generate more than $3-million a year. Iorio wanted the increase to cover some costs of the Clean City division, which handles such tasks as removing graffiti and keeping medians tidy. In a memo to the City Council, Iorio said she is abandoning the plan for legal reasons. According to City Attorney David Smith, solid waste fees relate to services provided to individual property owners, and the Clean City division is responsible for public areas. That makes is "impossible to treat these charges as a user fee," Smith wrote in a memo to Iorio.

--Janet Zink, Times staff writer