City OKs Landfill Ownership Deal
The city has approved an agreement ensuring that Orange County’s landfills, including one in Brea, remain in public ownership for at least 10 years.
After the county bankruptcy, officials discussed selling the landfills to outside companies to generate cash. The proposal was strongly opposed by many cities, though, whose leaders felt that landfills were public assets.
County officials eventually agreed, and this month the Brea City Council finalized a 10-year agreement that sets at $22 the gate fee, or amount a truck pays to enter a landfill. The fee had been $35 after the bankruptcy and was recently lowered to $27.
Most other cities and sanitation districts are expected to follow Brea’s lead in approving the deal.
“This is a historic agreement,” Brea City Manager Frank Benest said. “It preserves the landfills as a public asset.”
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