City of Chicago Garbage Fee One to Four Units

This garbage fee smells like garbage. Gone are the days when you didn’t have to pay a garbage fee for one to four unit properties in Chicago! This fee will now be unified with the Chicago Water and Sewer bill and will come every 6 months just like the water bill used to when it was paid on it’s own. What does this mean for one-four unit property owners?

Chicago Garbage Fee for One to Four Units:

• $9.50 per month per dwelling unit
• Single Family 9.50 x 12 months x 1 unit = $114 per year
• Two Units $9.50 x 12 months x 2 units = $228 per year
• Three Units $9.50 x 12 months x 3 units = $342 per year
• Four Units $9.50 x 12 months x 4 units = $456 per year
• Good news for seniors, you’ll receive a 50% discount

This is a pretty decent size increase in expense for small time property owners in Chicago. Although $144 per unit per year sounds somewhat low, just understand that this might be the tip of the ice berg. As with everything else, the costs always go up over time. Also, Chicago just implemented a historic tax increase which will take place in waves over the next 2-3 years. Combined with this tax increase, homeowners could be seeing some pretty large expense increases especially if they own buildings in areas where incomes are lower. This fixed expense per unit doesn’t account for the potential rents a building could receive respective to it’s location and amenities. It will hurt a two flat receiving $1,200 per month in rent more than a two flat receiving $3,000 per month in rent. The reality is that this tax will be passed mostly to the tenants in increased rents. Lets hope these costs stay low and that they don’t come up with more things to bill to the small time 2-4 unit investors!