Hernando County raises landfill fees, household trash now costs $5

Hernando County residents who drive to the landfill or a convenience center with household trash now pay $5 for up to five 60-gallon bags, a move that turned a free drop-off into a paid service and took effect May 1. The Board of County Commissioners approved the new solid-waste fee schedule on April 28, and the change reaches beyond household trash to higher charges for commercial waste, construction and demolition debris, yard waste, sludge, personal watercraft and tires.

For many families, the new charge is the most visible change: what had been free household disposal now costs $5, while other household waste is billed at $15. Recyclable materials and household hazardous waste remain free, and the county said mobile homes, whether they have wheels or not, were not affected by the rate changes. That means the people most likely to feel the increase are households that clean out garages, haul storm debris, or make repeated trips to the West Hernando or East Hernando convenience centers in Brooksville and Spring Hill.

County officials said the change was driven by rising disposal costs and long-term system needs. A Raftelis study concluded the county needed annual increases of 3.25 percent to keep up with disposal-system assessments and tipping fees. Hernando County also said it is building the next garbage cell at a cost of $28 million, while its solid-waste disposal assessment has been billed annually to residential property owners since Fiscal Year 1990/1991 to support the closed Croom Landfill, the Northwest Solid Waste Management Landfill, the two convenience centers, the Household Hazardous Waste program, the Waste Tire program and the Recycling program.

The disposal assessment does not cover curbside garbage collection. That service is paid through a separate collection assessment that applies only to residential property in the mandatory Spring Hill area. County materials show the 2026 disposal assessment stayed at $98.04 for single-family homes and multi-family properties with four units or fewer, while the collection assessment rose from $202.56 to $217.37.

The county has already made another major change to the trash system. In May 2025, commissioners approved a seven-year, $104,870,552.64 contract with Coastal Waste and Recycling, Inc. to replace Republic Services beginning in 2026. The county said collection rates will rise 7.31 percent in 2026 before settling into 4 percent annual increases from 2027 through 2035. For households, contractors and small businesses, the practical result is a more expensive disposal system and a stronger incentive to sort loads, recycle more and make fewer unnecessary dump runs.