Stewart, 082191 MSAGO, 19910821

• Case Date: August 21, 1991
• Court: Mississippi

Ms. Diane Stewart No. 19910821 Mississippi Attorney General Opinions August 21, 1991          Ms. Diane Stewart          City Clerk          2285 Goodman Road          Horn Lake, Mississippi 38637          Re: Garbage service           Dear Ms. Stewart:          Attorney General Mike Moore has received your recent letter concerning garbage collection fees in the City of Horn Lake and has referred it to me to answer. Your letter states:

We have an elderly couple that live approximately 150 yards off a state highway within our city limits. This couple has requested that we discontinue their sanitation service due to the below reasons: 1. They are unable to take the sanitation buggy to the street. 2. We are not allowed to take the truck on their private property to pick their trash up since we have curbside service and they do not want our truck traveling up their driveway. Can we discontinue the service to this residence and discontinue billing for said service. Secondly, if other citizens request to have their service discontinued is this at the discretion of the mayor and board of aldermen or do we continue to offer the service and bill for same.

         The Supreme Court has held that a utility district may by ordinance require all residents and businesses to connect onto a system and pay a monthly fee for the system because all residents and businesses benefit from the establishment of the system regardless of whether they are connected onto it. Lepre v. D'Iberville Water and Sewer Dist., 376 So.2d 191 (Miss.1979) . See also, the attached prior opinion of this office to Wiley Barbour, dated November 2, 1988 (city may establish a uniform residential garbage collection fee and terminate garbage collection services to individuals who refuse to pay the fee.) While a city may require residents to pay a monthly fee for garbage collection services, this office is of the opinion that a city may also provide by ordinance that residents do not have to pay garbage collection fees and receive garbage collection services. Under the equal protection guarantees of the United States and Mississippi constitutions, a city ordinance must apply uniformly to all residents.          Sincerely,           Mike Moore, Attorney General.           Alice D. Wise, Special...