Solid Waste Charge for Single-family Properties

Applies to single-family properties, and multi-family properties with up to six (6) dwellings per building; includes all townhouses.

This page is for homes not in a municipality - see Solid Waste Charge for single-family homes located in towns.

For the purposes of estimating waste generation, and establishing the Base and Incremental System Benefit Charges, the County distinguishes two classes of residential dwellings:

• buildings with one to six dwellings ("single-family"), and
• buildings with seven or more dwelling units ("multi-family").

Townhouses are considered single-family dwellings, regardless of the number in a contiguous group. The term "condominium" refers to the nature of ownership of real property, and has no bearing on the determination of Solid Waste Charges.

The County does not bill renters of real property; property owners receive the bill.

Disposal Fees

• $55.91 per year - paid by property owners via tax bill

• This fee substitutes for the Tipping Fee charged at the County’s transfer station ($70/ton) and is based on the estimated waste disposed by the average County single-family household (estimated to average 0.79873 tons per home during Fiscal Year 2025).

• Households that do not receive refuse collection service from County contractors (and thus, do not pay the Refuse Collection Fee) may have privately contracted collection. In these cases, the private sector refuse collector ("hauler’") may not charge the resident for a County Tipping Fee. This is because owner of the single-family already has been charged a Disposal Fee via the consolidated tax bill instead of the hauler paying a Tipping Fee.

Base Systems Benefit Charge

• $31.98 per year - paid by all property owners via the tax bill

• Covers the portion of the County costs of providing basic solid waste services for single-family waste that are not covered by the Disposal and Tipping Fees.

• These basic services are programs and facilities necessary to fulfill the County's legal obligation to provide for the management of all single-family solid waste generated within the County, which services must remain available to all single-family properties. They include:

  • overall solid waste program administration
  • solid waste enforcement activities
  • general program development
  • Division management personnel
  • general engineering and technical support
  • waste reduction programs
  • operation of the Waste-to-Energy Facility (also called the Resource Recovery Facility, or RRF)
  • the "Dickerson Facilities Master Plan" (an obligation to the citizens in the RRF area)
  • debt service

Incremental Systems Benefit Charge

• $223.03 per year - paid by all non-municipal single-family property owners via the tax bill

• Covers the cost of certain incremental services provided by the County only to non-municipal single-family households.

• Covered program costs include the curbside blue bin program, yard waste collection program, operation of the commingled container recycling facility, mixed paper processing, drop-off programs (net of material sales revenue), a rate stabilization, household hazardous waste programs, development of recycling programs, and single-family recycling education and outreach.

• The County is required to provide its curbside recycling services to all non-municipal town homes and multi-family properties in buildings with 6 or fewer units also.

Refuse Collection Charge

• $160.00 per year - assessed to those households in the Collection District which receive collection of refuse by a collector under contract to the County

• Refuse collection service is for once-per-week curbside collection during Fiscal Year 2025 and includes on-call bulk pickups.

• This fee is calculated by dividing the County’s cost to provide the refuse collection service (including administrative costs, net of collection fund investment income, and draw from fund balance) by the number of households projected to be receiving the service at mid-year.

Leaf Vacuuming Charge

• $123.67 per year - assessed to households in the Leaf Vacuuming Service Area

• This fee covers the cost of the street leaf vacuuming services provided twice each Fall by the Department of Transportation's Division of Highway Services. This service is provided only in certain areas of the County.

  Map of and details about leaf vacuuming area

• The fee is calculated by dividing the cost of leaf vacuuming program by the number of households that receive the benefit of the service. For Fiscal Year 2025, it is assumed that single-family households continue to account for 97.244% of leaves vacuumed. That 97.244% figure resulted from an application of the County’s Geographic Information System (GIS) that calculated the deciduous tree canopy and property boundary data. Therefore, the charge was calculated by dividing 97.244% of the Leaf Vacuuming Program cost by the number of single-family homes located in the Leaf Vacuuming Program. For more information, call 311.

• Homes that are not in the areas receiving this service are not charged the fee. Executive Regulation 6-99AM provides for subdivisions to "opt in or out" of the service. For more information about how a subdivision may opt in or out of the Leaf Vacuuming Program, call Montgomery County's Customer Service Center at 311 (out-of-County: 240-777-0311, TTY: 301-251-4850).

• The six-or-fewer dwellings per building criteria does not apply to the Leaf Vacuuming Charge.
  Multi-family properties in the Leaf Vacuuming District

Solid Waste Charge Refund

According to Chapter 48 of Montgomery County Code (Sec. 48-37. Refunds.) "Refunds of solid waste collection and/or systems benefit charges must not be made, except upon application of the property owner, where the property is to be unoccupied for at least 60 consecutive days and no solid waste is generated from the property during that period, and the property owner has notified the county in writing 7 days before the absence. The notice must be made a part of a request for a refund of solid waste collection service or system benefits charges and must indicate the dates for which solid waste collection, or base or incremental solid waste management services are not required. Refunds must not be made for shorter periods or without prior notice. Refunds must be prorated." If your property will be unoccupied for a minimum of 60 consecutive day you can apply for the refund by completing the application form.