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Raking leaves to the curb was almost an annual ritual for 62-year-old Terri Ivey since moving to her Marlboro Meadows home in Upper Marlboro nine years ago.

Every year, Ivey would wrap her arthritic foot, brave the cold and rake as many leaves in her yard as she could, then move them to the curb to take advantage of a Prince George's County Department of Public Works and Transportation program that allowed residents to move leaves to their curb to be sucked up by a vacuum, rather than having to bag and dispose of the leaves.

But this year will be different for Ivey and other residents. The county scrapped its 25-year-old leaf pickup program in July to save $2 million annually. Residents are now required to bag the leaves and place them on the curb for pickup during scheduled yard waste days.

The cuts are likely to be permanent, affecting all communities in the county that had received pickup, according to public works department representatives.

"I think it's terrible. It was a big help when they came and vacuumed the streets because they got everything up," said Ivey, a retired grandmother who said she lives off her pension and Social Security. "I can't do it myself. I'll just have to pay somebody to do it."

Ivey said she was used to seeing signs posted in her neighborhood telling residents when leaf pickup would begin, but noticed this year the signs were absent. Around the same time, she said, leaves began to cover the streets, rooftops and yards in the community.

The program was created 25 years ago in 351 communities throughout the county, said Susan Hubbard, a spokeswoman for the county's public works department. But as the number of county homes grew, the program was never able to expand, Hubbard said.

"It was a rather expensive service for 351 communities in the county," she said. "It's just something that folks got used to and expected."

The department had been sending notifications since July about the service cuts to more than 900 community members, civic and homeowner associations.

The county will continue issuing violation notices this fall to residents who place leaves on the curb, followed by citations if the notices are ignored, said Haitham A. Hijazi, director of the public works department. A fee for citations has not yet been determined, he said.

"There is a percentage of folks still raking leaves to the curb, so we need to get the information out," Hijazi said, adding that the department has continued to post signs about the change in the community.

Many residents said they weren't aware of the change and had planned to push leaves to the curb this fall.

"It's costly for us, too. You have to buy the bags," said Anita Byrd, 42, as she stood outside her Marlboro Meadows home on the afternoon of Nov. 5, dressed in sweats while raking leaves with her brother.

Byrd said she had come to expect to rake leaves three times a year because so many trees hung over her home. In the fall, she said, leaves cover the streets, hide the sidewalks and make driving difficult.

"It's tedious," she said, while looking at an 18-foot-tall red maple tree in her yard that has yet to shed its leaves. "I envy my neighbor — he has a leaf blower."