Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Regional Landfill May Raise Fees

There is a strong possibility tipping fees at the Nashville landfill will be raised in the near future.

This means a higher cost to city and county governments in the Upper Southwest Regional Solid Waste Management District.

Members of the Upper SW met in special session Friday morning, March 22, at the landfill offices. They were informed by landfill supervisor Joe Ball, the landfill is currently operating at a deficit of about $40,000.

According to Ball, the volume of refuse coming into the landfill had dropped significantly since counties have been forced to do away with green box collections and go to the door-to-door method.

He said more garbage is being brought into the class IV landfill instead of the class I fill. This, Ball said, is because it costs less to dump in the class IV fill. The tipping fees for the class IV fill is $13 per ton, as compared to $25 per ton for the class I fill.

What could also be another reason for the shortfall, is the time of year. Ball said February and March are normally slow months for the facility.

However, there has been a steady decline in volume and revenue at the landfill since September 1995.

While volume has dropped drastically in the class I landfill, it has almost doubled in the class IV site since the door-to-door pickup began.

"We never know what's coming in until it gets here," Ball said. "I think a lot of people may be burning their trash in rural areas.

"But the bottom line is we're taking in less waste than we were."

Ball informed the panel the landfill had taken in more in January and February, but this was not due to more volume, but increased rates to haulers.

He continued by saying the landfill is down about 16 percent in volume this year.

In an effort to cut costs, Ball is working to reduce the payroll by 20 percent. This includes the elimination of one or two positions and combining other duties. Overtime is also being reduced.

But, worker's compensation fees cost the landfill about $30,000 annually, and one-half must be paid up front. According to Ball, the first half of the worker's comp bill is due now. This, he said, has caused the cash flow problems to worsen.

The landfill is averaging 4,900 tons of waste per month. Ball said it needs to be bringing in 5,800 tons monthly in order to break even financially.

When the Upper SW was created a little more than two years ago, a monthly budget of $150,000 in tipping fees was approved for operation of the landfill. This, though, has not been occurring.

Ball said the district is between $30,000 and $40,000 behind in accounts payable, but is owed about $30,000.

The money owed to the landfill, however, most likely won't come in for another 30 days.

Ball said two loads of cardboard have been shipped for recycling, and another nine loads will be shipped. Additionally, there will be three loads of white paper sent to recycling centers.

But, the landfill will have to wait 30 to 60 days before it gets paid for these materials. According to Ball, at current prices, the paper should bring in about $25,000.

Another problem the district is having is a drop in the amount of refuse from commercial accounts.

Ball said the corporate customers are trying to save money by cutting their waste, and this is affecting the landfill

Clyde Wright, Little River County Judge, said this is not the time to be raising tipping fees. He said this would only be a quick fix for the district.

In addition, Wright said county governments have already set their budgets for 1996, and it would take a lot of work to change them for increased tipping fees.

Wright suggested looking for other alternatives for funds, such as finding a new market for recyclable materials.

Ball said the bottom falling out of the paper market has hurt the landfill. Two years ago, cardboard sold for more than $200 per ton, but has fallen to $35 per ton.

It was also suggested the district set something like a minimum on utility bills in place to cover its fixed costs.

One idea was to base the fixed rates on a per capita method based on populations of the various counties in the district.

Ball took the blame for the district's financial problems saying he was responsible for the two different prices for the class I and IV landfills.

He said these rates were based on the former method counties had for collecting their garbage, and not the door-to-door method.

While nothing was done at the meeting, it was decided to meet again on April 5 to see what, if anything, the district can do.