Certain fees jump as county funds groundwater protection
efforts
Some rates at the John Smith Landfill will increase July 1
following the recent approval by the county’s Board of Supervisors.
Meanwhile, a proposal to increase curbside garbage collection rates
throughout the county will be discussed at a public hearing June
9.
Certain fees jump as county funds groundwater protection efforts
Some rates at the John Smith Landfill will increase July 1 following the recent approval by the county’s Board of Supervisors. Meanwhile, a proposal to increase curbside garbage collection rates throughout the county will be discussed at a public hearing June 9.
A portion of the increased revenue from the higher landfill rates will be used to fund the cost of clay required to line the landfill’s next cell, where garbage will be placed and buried.
“We are extremely sensitive about the level of rates that our community has to pay to go to the landfill,” said Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who, along with Supervisor Pat Loe formed the Board subcommittee that recommended the rate increase. “At the same time, we hope our operator remains viable, because it’s important that the landfill be operated in a sustainable manner.”
The so-called “packer rate,” which franchise garbage haulers pay to dump waste at the landfill, will rise to $43 per ton from $40 per ton under the plan. This affects garbage trucks that compact the waste they haul. Mandy Rose, the county’s Integrated Waste Management director, said that rate has not been increased for 15 years.
“Source-separated” rates, which charge when people dump green waste or wood waste, for example, will rise to $26 per ton from $24 per ton, which Rose said has been the rate for five years.
Finally, the “mixed-waste” rate, which haulers pay when recyclables are not separated out of a load, will rise $5 to $57 per ton.
The source-separated rates are less than half the cost of the mixed-waste rates to encourage people to separate their waste for recycling, Rose said, noting that no one addressed the Board of Supervisors during a recent public hearing on the rate increases.
Botelho said state mandates regarding groundwater protection have required landfills to be more careful about preparation of dump sites.
“Our rates have to sustain growth in the landfill,” he said. “A portion of the money [raised by the fee increase] would be designated for expansion within the natural life of the landfill.”
He said moderate rate increases, made possible by cost-of-living adjustment formulas adopted by the county, “make it more palatable to the public as we manage our rates, rather than to have large increases from time to time.”
Rose said that since 1993, landfills have had to line all of their dumping areas to help prevent the contamination of groundwater.
“Engineers have to put layers of clay, plastic liner, a gravel layer and a system of pipes to take what’s gathered in the liner off-site and have it processed,” she said.
A $32,000 increase in franchise fees received by the county along with revenue generated by the new fee schedule will pay nearly two-thirds of the $80,000 it will cost to add the additional foot of clay mandated by the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
On June 9 at 9 a.m., the Board of Supervisors will hold another public hearing to discuss a proposed increase in curbside garbage collection rates for Hollister, San Juan Bautista and San Benito County.
Botelho said the proposed increase in those rates will be “very modest, which I think the residential user probably won’t even notice – at least that’s our objective.”
A report on a planned expansion of the landfill on John Smith Road east of Hollister is expected to come before supervisors in July or August, according to Rose.
Botelho said that in the meantime, it makes sense for the county to take steps to ensure the viability of the current landfill area.
