Toledo City Council last night stripped the Finkbeiner administration of its power to establish the city's monthly refuse fee by approving an ordinance that puts the power in its hands.

The ordinance, approved 9-3, requires specific council action in order to collect a refuse fee after April 30 when the current $5.50 monthly fee will expire.

The trash fee was enacted last year as part of the 2007 general operating fund budget and will expire unless council renews it.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's proposed 2008 budget depends on $4.8 million to be collected from the trash fee this year.

"If we're going to have a refuse fee, council is going to have to pass separate legislation as part of the Toledo Municipal Code to enact it," said Democratic Councilman Joe McNamara, who introduced the ordinance earlier this month.

Mr. McNamara said the city's director of public service last year created a rule to establish a refuse fee, a power he said should be left up to the legislative body.

"Some people feel that any fee or tax that generates almost $5 million should be actively enacted by the legislature instead of delegating it to the administration," he said.

As a part of the ordinance, a section of the Toledo Municipal Code regarding the power of the city's director of public service will be amended to include: "The authority to promulgate a rule under this section shall not include the authority to establish a refuse collection fee after April 30, 2008."

Mark Sobczak, council president, voted against the ordinance, calling it "premature."

He said the legislation was a formality, and it doesn't make a difference how the refuse fee is established.

"At the end of the day, $4.8 million is needed to get into the general fund to balance the budget," he said. "Whether it was done by a separate ordinance or through the administrative process really doesn't make that much of a difference. It's form over substance."

Mr. Sobczak has abstained from earlier votes on the trash fee because he is vice president of Teamsters Local 20, which represents about 250 city employees, mostly in refuse and waste collection.

Councilman George Sarantou and Betty Shultz also voted against the ordinance.

Mr. McNamara said he has feared that a taxpayer would file a lawsuit, claiming the refuse fee was enacted illegally.

By revoking the director of public service's authority to establish a refuse fee, the city is protected because "we are basically saying he did have the authority to begin with," he said.

Mr. McNamara added that putting the power in council members' hands will force them to debate the issue.

"We won't be able to wait until the last minute and include it as part of the budget," Mr. McNamara said. "It will hopefully bring forth the debate of whether there should be a refuse fee or not."

Council also decided last night that public forums will be scheduled to discuss the proposed change to the refuse fee after Councilman Lindsay Webb announced she has received several phone calls from concerned constituents.

Councilman D. Michael Collins has proposed an ordinance that would increase the refuse fee to $10 for residents who don't recycle. Those who pledge to recycle would pay nothing.

Contact Laren Weber at: lweber@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.

First Published February 27, 2008, 10:35 a.m.