TROY – If you don't pay up, the city will charge you more for trash collection.

The City Council on Thursday passed a new resolution to charge a monthly 3 percent late fee on unpaid trash fees to spur payment of the $160 annual fee. So far, 24 percent of the city's residential units haven't paid the first $80 installment.

The $160 garbage fee is expected to bring in enough money to keep the city’s 2018 budget of $73 million balanced and prompt more recycling to cut the city’s dumping fees at landfills. So far, the city has collected $1,444,560. At $160 per unit, the trash fee would produce about $3.1 million.

“Any time you have a new fee it’s hard to predict how collections are going to go,” Mayor Patrick Madden said.

City property owners only had to make a payment of $80 per unit by April. The second $80 installment would be paid in September.

Out of the 17,946 units being charged the $160 annual trash fee just 4,432 have paid the full amount. But, 13,625 paid the first $80 installment That means when the second installment bill goes out, 13,514 units will have to pay up $80. And of those units, 4,321 owe the full $160.

The fee replaces the old recycling fee that generated about $545,000 in 2017.

The 3 percent monthly interest charge is $2.40 when an $80 installment is not paid. It doubles to $4.80 per month when the entire $160 fee goes unpaid.

Madden said the city doesn’t want to penalize people, but it needs the money. Andrew Piotrowski, the deputy city comptroller, called the interest payment serves an incentive for people to pay.

The city originally told property owners they would have to pay a 5-percent monthly penalty. The interest was dropped to 3 percent to make it equal to the rate charged for delinquent property taxes.

The City Council waived the interest for May. Piotrowski said his office had to deal with owners of 1,474 residential units seeking waivers from having to pay the trash fee. He said this resulted in some people not paying the first installment of the trash fee while they waited to learn if they were liable. There could be exemptions due to vacant units or other circumstances.

The monthly interest charges on the unpaid trash fee take effect in June.