Monterey City Leaders to Re-Evaluate Charging 25 Cents - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

NOTE: A prior version of this story said plastic bags.  Plastic bags were banned in the city last year.  Consumers are currently being charged 25 cents for paper bags in the city limits

MONTEREY, Calif- Monterey city leaders are beginning to re-evaluate charging consumers in the city 25 cents per paper bag given out at stores in the city.

The ordinance to charge for paper bags at stores was put through by city leaders to not only protect the ocean and environment but also to push for more consumers to switch to re-usable bags in Monterey.

When city leaders felt consumers didn't quite get the message, a decision was made to push the price up to 25cents per bag.

That way consumers would get the message loud and clear to bring re-usable bags when shopping in Monterey.

But since the increase, city leaders including Councilmember Libby Downey have received complaints as well as negative feedback, accusing the city of increasing the price only to profit from it.

The decision to up the price was not profit motivated by the city, according to Councilmember Libby Downey, in fact the extra money goes to the business owner where the bag is being sold, not the city whatsoever.

Downey has requested the city schedule a discussion on the bags and see if they should set the price back to 10 cents.

Councilmembers will request that the city clerk schedules the discussion as soon as possible, so city leaders can tackle this problem quickly.

They will be requesting this at Tuesday, January 15th's meeting.