Countywide : Ordinance Regulates Independent Haulers

The County Board of Supervisors took the first step Tuesday toward regulating trash removal fees and services in the unincorporated areas.

The supervisors reviewed a proposed ordinance requiring trash haulers to contract with the county to provide services and pay a 5% franchise fee based on their gross annual receipts. They scheduled final adoption of the ordinance for Sept. 11.

The contract would allow the county to regulate fees that are now set by 31 independent haulers in the unincorporated areas. It would give the county some control over the frequency of collection, service areas, transportation and the destination of the wastes.

Customers have complained about rate increases and service, said Kay Martin, director of the county’s Solid Waste Management Department. But a more pressing reason, she said, is the county’s need to comply with state legislation requiring recycling programs and waste cutbacks at landfills.

She said the county must come up with a plan by next June showing how it will reduce waste by 25% before 1995 and 50% by 2000. The proposed ordinance would help get that effort under way because it allows the county to designate which haulers would remove recyclable items.

All of that made little difference to Hank Alviani, who complained to the supervisors Tuesday that his trash bill had risen from $23.40 a quarter in 1983 to $45 a quarter.

But Martin said that Alviani’s complaint was typical of other complaints she has received whenever the fees at the county’s landfills go up.

Martin said the haulers who work in the unincorporated areas of the county helped prepare the proposed ordinance.

“They prefer not to be regulated, but they are eager to get involved in recycling,” she said. Nearly all cities in the county regulate trash hauling now with franchise fees up to 8% of company profits.

If the ordinance is adopted Sept. 11, Martin’s department will begin negotiating franchise agreements with the haulers. They will be asked to provide information about services, as well as a proposed rate structure and financial data to back up the rate.

“We’ll be looking at rates to see if they are fair and reasonable,” she said. Each franchise agreement will be considered by the supervisors at a public hearing.