Condominium owners are fighting to keep their trash removal service, as the possibility looms that it will be taken away this fall.

A revised agreement between the city and Casella Waste Systems to implement an automated trash and recycling program in the city proposes to remove the service altogether for hundreds of apartments and condos throughout Westbrook.

The change prompted dozens of condominium residents to come out to a Committee of the Whole meeting Monday, where they argued that continuing to receive trash service was their right.

The agreement proposes to stop picking up trash at buildings or complexes with more than six units, which will affect 85 condominiums and 237 apartments that currently receive trash removal service from the city. City Administrator Jerre Bryant cited difficulty of access to the units, lack of room on the street to accommodate the 64-gallon trash and recycling bins and cost of providing the service as the reasons behind the changes.

He also said that including those condos and apartments, which currently receive regular city trash removal, in the new automated program would mean Casella would need to purchase a third truck.

Condo owners Monday said they bought their homes under the impression that trash service would be provided by the city and they wouldn’t be able to afford an increase in condo fees to cover that cost next year.

Most of the people who spoke own condos in La Bella Villa, a 42-unit complex on Route 302. Residents there argued that the complex could, in fact, accommodate the trucks and bins, and Bryant agreed. They said they felt discriminated against and that city was balancing its budget on their backs.

“There’s no way I can afford any more money out of my pocket for this,” said resident Glenn Bryant, who is on disability because of a back problem.

“We as taxpayers have these rights that we have earned,” said Kari Brawn, a single mother.

James Krams, who lives in a seven-unit condo complex on Rochester Street, said he and his wife took note that trash service was included when they bought their home, and wouldn’t have bought it otherwise.

“It was based on what we could afford,” he said.

Councilors were sympathetic to the cause of the condo owners, and, though they voted unanimously to refer the agreement to the City Council, they also asked the administration to try to work out a compromise that would have the city continue providing trash service to those residents.

Bryant explained that there is some urgency to having the council approve the agreement. He said because Casella needs to know how much equipment to order, the council would have to take a final vote by the beginning of July in order for the new program to be implemented in the fall. Otherwise, he said, it would have to be delayed until next spring. Because the new program would be less expensive for the city, delaying its implementation until the spring would force the city to spend about $50,000 that it didn’t budget for.

The potential hang-up would be the latest issue to postpone curbside recycling. After years of debate between the City Council and Mayor Bruce Chuluda about the best way to implement a recycling program in the city, Casella agreed in September to provide the service as part of a 20-year contract with the city. Casella plans to build a construction and demolition processing facility, as well as a recycling drop-off station for residents and businesses, off County Road.

In March, the city negotiated to upgrade that agreement to a whole new automated trash and recycling program, for which each home would receive two wheeled carts – one for trash and one for recycling – that are collected and their contents dumped into a single truck equipped with an automated arm operated by the driver to pick up the bins. Such programs are already in place in Scarborough, Saco and South Portland.

Casella agreed to foot the upfront investment for trash bins and trucks, which Dan Emerson, general manager of the processing facility, said at the time would cost about $1.4 million.

Since March, Bryant said, the city has been working with Casella to nail down the details of the agreement, which is why it’s just coming to the councilors now.

The councilors indicated they were eager to get the new program in place, but also said they wanted to do what they could to accommodate the condo owners.

“I understand what you’re saying. You bought based on one set of facts,” said Council President Brendan Rielly, who suggested both the condo owners and the administration try to come up with creative solutions to the problem.

“Our city staff has worked long and hard on this issue,” Rielly said. “There are a lot of pieces to balance.”

Bryant said the city and Casella would start looking at ways to continue providing trash service to the condominium complexes and would present them June 22, when a public hearing would be held and the City Council would be scheduled to take a preliminary vote on the agreement. He said he hoped the final vote could take place on July 6.