The City plans to pick up yard waste in the street with a disposal vehicle called "the claw" from November to January and in containers the rest of the year. 

Erin Treadwell with the City says the Solid Waste and Recycling division has actually been breaking a state law for years because it kept picking up trash on the street regardless of whether people had paid for the service,"The folks who have had the claw service have only been paying $3 more a month for that service rather than the container service. It costs significantly more than $3 a month to provide claw service year-round."

A grand jury found the under-charges amounted to $30-to$40 a month.

But the city could not mandate container pickup because of a ballot measure passed in the 1970's. Now that Measure T has apparently passed, the Council can vote on a new service plan in December.  If it passes, rates would be frozen until June of 2015. 

One-hundred-and-ninety-three-thousand unprocessed ballots remain in Sacramento County.  An unknown number were cast in the city.   The County elections office will report new totals Friday after 3 pm.