A Reminder for Homeowners about the City’s Tree and Debris Policies

In recent months, many of the city’s homeowners have been busy beautifying their corners of the City Beautiful only to uncover an ugly (and costly) misconception.

Several homeowners have hired tree trimming services believing that the debris resulting from such services can be taken away by the city at no additional charge. Unfortunately, this is not a service that the city is able to offer.

The city’s code of ordinances, Chapter 22 provides additional information about this topic. The city does provide regular trash collection of “leaves, yard clippings, paper, straw, small tree branches, brush and other shrubbery cuttings” but not the larger items that are created by tree trimming and removal services.

The code of ordinances, Chapter 22, Article V, Section 22-58 states, “Collection service shall not be provided for certain types of material” and specifies that items including “logs and limbs resulting from commercial contract tree-trimming operations” are to be “disposed of by and at the expense of the person responsible for its production.”

In other words, the removal of this type of debris is not included in the garbage fees charged to city residents. If a citizen wishes to have the city take these items away, he or she must pay an additional charge. Currently, the city charges $300.00 per truckload for the removal of trees, limbs, and similar debris.

“The contractors are cutting down the trees and leaving the burden on the homeowners,” City of Laurel Public Works Director Tyrome Russell explained. “Homeowners need to let the contractors know that they are responsible for taking away the debris.”

While the city can, for a fee, remove these items, it is generally better for the homeowner to negotiate limb and tree removal with the contractors that they have hired. Many reputable tree removal services do include the removal of debris as part of the services that they offer.