On Wednesday a consulting firm contracted by the city recommended council members ask residents to pay $60 a year for garbage pick-up.
"I don't think that's anything we would implement right now, but I definitely think it's something worth looking at in the future," said Council Member Tameika Isaac Devine.
In 2009 city council exceeded their budget by $20 million a result officials say of poor record keeping.
To fix the budget council paid Equaterra $150,000 to study ways to save money and create revenue. The trash collection fee is one of 42 findings that would generate around $5 million for the city.
"This is one of the few areas where people find we have good service, and for us to go tax it all of the sudden, to fix issues in other places, doesn't seem reasonable,” said Council Member Kirkman Finlay.
Columbia residents say they don't want to be responsible for council's mistakes.
"I kind of think it's ridiculous because we are already getting taxes and i assume that is going towards trash pick-up," said Columbia Resident Kendrick James.
"Trash pick-up is very important to a capitol city like Columbia and extremely important to the residents. I think an oversight like that would be something I would have a hard time accepting," said Columbia resident Austin Hughes.
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