Commission Votes to Hike Trash Fees : Waste: If approved by county supervisors, it would mean a $1 increase in the monthly bill despite the drop in garbage volume due to the success of recycling programs.

A county commission took the first major step Thursday toward raising landfill fees, a hike that for most residents would mean a $1 increase in their monthly garbage collection bill.

The Waste Management Commission voted 8 to 6 to increase the gate fees at county landfills, an expense that is passed on to consumers by the trash haulers who pay the fee.

Orange County residents pay about $9 to $15 a month for trash collection service. The proposed hike is scheduled to go before the Board of Supervisors in late April; if approved, it would be in place by the summer.

The commission approved the increase after reviewing a report on the Integrated Waste Management Department’s financial prospects. Unless the county approves a $5 fee increase annually for five years, the independent report states, the agency’s losses will hit $87 million by 1998.

Commissioners approved the first $5 increase on Thursday, and decided to address future fee hikes on a year-by-year basis.

The report cites the success of recycling campaigns, coupled with the regional downturn in development, as the causes of a 23% decrease in the volume of garbage going into landfills since 1989. At the same time, increasingly stringent federal regulations have pushed up the cost of doing business, the report said.

Several commission members objected to the increase, saying it penalized consumers for recycling, while others wondered whether the agency was being managed as well as it should. Member Stan Tkaczyk, owner of a trash hauling service, said if the agency were a business, “I think this would say to me that you haven’t done a good job.”

But Murry S. Cable, the county’s waste management director, said while his agency has cut back on staffing and facilities to keep pace with the decrease in garbage volume, the department has little power to combat the increasing cost of government regulations. Cable said the department will spend $129.5 million this year for measures required specifically to meet those regulations, compared to the $57.9 million spent in 1989.

The increase would raise the gate fee paid by haulers from $22.75 a ton to $27.66.