Countywide : Supervisors to Consider Proposal for Selling County Landfill System

The Board of Supervisors next week will consider a proposal to sell the county’s landfill system to the Sanitation Districts of Orange County, although three supervisors have already expressed opposition to the proposal.

The districts offered to pay $300 million for the system, which includes four operating landfills and more than 20 closed facilities.

But three board members--Don Saltarelli, Marian Bergeson and Jim Silva--said this week that the proposal was not a good deal for the county. Saltarelli complained that the sanitation districts’ offer is equal to the revenue the landfills would generate on their own over the next 20 years.

“In my view, their offer is to take over the landfills for free,” he said. “We are interested in selling assets, not giving them away.”

If the board rejects the proposal, it could invite private firms to bid on the entire system or specific landfills.

“Until we go to the market, we won’t be able to establish what the value of the system is,” Bergeson said.

But other supervisors have supported the sale. Combining responsibility for solid and liquid waste in the hands of one agency, they argued, would results in operational savings that could be used to reduce household garbage bills.

Officials on Wednesday acknowledged that it could take some time for reductions in landfill dumping fees approved earlier this week to be passed along to consumers.

The board voted Wednesday to slash fees by as much as 23%, resulting in a reduction in monthly household trash bills of as much as $1.30. But the actual drop in trash bills will vary from city to city. In most cases, it will be up to cities that control the trash franchises to decide whether to pass along the savings to consumers.

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Falling Fees

Beginning April 1, county landfill dumping fees will decrease by as much as 23%. The goal is to make the fees more competitive with rates charged by surrounding jurisdictions. Here is how the fee structure has changed:

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Dumping Minimum for per ton private vehicle Before summer 1995 $22.75 $10.00 Current 35.00 15.00 Effective April 1 27.00 12.00

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Source: Orange County Integrated Waste Management Department; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / For The Times