01/14/2010: "New Funding For Solid Waste"

(Ed Hale & Steve Alexander of PW before CC)

SJC PRESS RELEASE: The San Juan County Council has scheduled a special workshop session beginning at 8 a.m., January 19 to explore ways to fund the County’s solid waste utility which is now running in the red. Council Chair Richard Fralick said that public input would be taken at that session.

The Council decided to hold an additional workshop after spending almost three hours at its regular Tuesday session studying the details of funding options that the Public Works Department and Solid Waste Advisory Committee had first presented a week earlier.

Public Works staff offered estimates of revenue that could be generated by different combinations of increased tipping fees, real estate parcel fees, a minimum “gate fee” at the transfer station, a service fee for new development and excise taxes on certified haulers. The presentation document is available on-line by clicking HERE .

The immediate cause of the financial pinch is nearly a 30% drop in the volume of waste handled in 2009, which produced approximately $380,000 less revenue than the utility had in 2008. The utility’s current system is totally dependent on waste handling fees to finance recycling, reuse, capital projects and other programs.

On the expense side, the utility faces significant capital costs at its transfer stations to meet state Department of Ecology standards; multi-year waste hauling contracts that are expected to increase significantly when they expire; and the utility will soon need to finance a multi-million dollar project to replace the transfer station facility on San Juan Island.

If the current funding system is continued, the fee for self-hauled garbage, already the highest in the state would have to increase 44 percent in 2010 and an estimated 80 percent over the next five years to balance the utility’s budget. Public Works staff and private citizens have expressed concern that would lead to an increase in illegal dumping and create a serious litter problem.

Among the Council’s early decisions on Tuesday was to reduce costs in the short term by going slow on plans to develop the new San Juan Island transfer station facility on San Juan Island, funding only construction required to get into state compliance and handle immediate need.

The Council Chair’s poll of members at the meeting showed that most were against a fee on undeveloped parcels or a property tax, but there was at least a willingness to discuss most of the other options.

Members asked Public Works staff to provide supplementary information to the Council this week and the Council will convene early on January 19 to accept public input and then try to hammer out an agreement on a funding structure proposal.

A public hearing and final action on solid waste fees, originally scheduled for January 26 has been postponed until February 9 to give the County’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee and the Town of Friday Harbor a chance to review and comment on the proposal.