SIMI VALLEY : Supervisors Raise Landfill Surcharge

A county surcharge at the Simi Valley Landfill will jump from 30 cents to 89 cents per ton after Jan. 1.

In a 3-2 vote, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the increase with Supervisors Madge L. Schaefer and James R. Dougherty voting no.

Kay Martin, director of the county Solid Waste Management Department, said the increase for trash haulers would be passed on to customers.

“People are paying too many taxes. I don’t want to vote for it,” Dougherty said.

The surcharge, added to the landfill’s normal rate, pays for the county’s solid waste programs, including the Government Center recycling program.

Martin said the county projected for its budget that an average of 25,000 tons would be dumped at the landfill each month. But use of the landfill has fallen off, she said, and only 9,030 tons were dumped during September. Haulers have been using the Calabasas Landfill in Los Angeles County instead, she said.

Dougherty said it was not fair to raise rates because there is less use of the landfill.

Martin said the increase may be temporary if use of the Simi Valley Landfill picks up. She said Ventura County haulers may be excluded soon from the Los Angeles landfill.