TROY – Getting smacked with a $500 to $1,500 fine for putting trash out for bulk pickup has stunned some city residents, who thought it was a free service that they’d seen friends and neighbors use for nearly a quarter century.

Lori A. Gregware-Greenough said her family called the city three times to notify the public works department that they needed to have bulk trash hauled away from a family member’s Michigan Avenue home.

The calls were never returned. What they received was a form letter stating four city codes were violated and to pay a $1,500 fine or it would be attached to the property tax bill and interest would be charged.

“They wanted $1,500 to start. She ended up paying $500,” Gregware-Greenough said.

If they knew the city charged for bulk trash removal, Gregware-Greenough said, they would have rented a dumpster for $300. “We’re not the only people that got these notices,” she said.

The city’s new $160 annual trash fee for regular garbage collection is a topic many city homeowners find distressing. That fee is projected to produce about $3.1 million in revenues that will help balance the city’s $73 million budget for 2018.

City Council President Carmella Mantello and Councilman Mark McGrath, both Republicans, have received about 10 complaints from residents questioning the charge for bulk pickup in the last few weeks. Mantello said she’s also beginning to hear from residents who paid a $500 fee, but didn’t protest.

The $1,500 appears to be split between a $500 fine for trash and $1,000 for a nuisance fine.

Mantello said that since the 1990s when the city switched to its current strong mayor form of government, each administration has allowed homeowners to put out trash beyond the normal amount picked and have it carted away for free.

“You’ve got to give people a heads up,” Mantello said if charges are being applied. “This whole thing is convoluted. The administration needs to go back to the drawing board.

“How do you determine who pays?” asked McGrath. ““It has to be a policy. It can’t be some people pay one thing and others pay something different.”

Democratic Mayor Patrick Madden said the city has made some mistakes in the bulk trash pickup and has corrected them when residents have complained about errors. He said he was not aware of Gregware-Greenough’s family situation where claimed calls were ignored.

“It’s been routine that we charged. Owner-occupants are one thing, absentee owners are another thing,” Madden said.

For an owner-occupied home, Madden said a smaller load, say the size of a pickup truck would be free, but if a 12-yard truck is needed then fees would be assessed to have the trash taken away.

Mantello said she will ask Councilman David Bissember, a Democrat, to have the council’s General Services Committee review the city code regarding bulk hauling to assess if changes should be made to establish an easily understood framework for how the system works. Bissember is the committee chair.