The bells and the whistles will have to wait.
But the financial fog began to clear, to some degree, as the County Council last week opted for less rather than more in the pending repair, remodel and re-design of the San Juan Island solid-waste transfer station on Sutton Road.
“I don’t think anyone wants to build the large facility that we’ve talked about,” said Councilman Rich Peterson, North San Juan. “I think what we need to do is simplify.”
His colleagues agreed.
“I’d say that we really don’t have much choice,” added Councilman Howie Rosenfeld, Friday Harbor.
The decision to forgo construction of a full-scale, vastly-improved replacement transfer station is expected to reduce the amount of revenue the cash-strapped county solid-waste operation must raise over the next five years by about $3 million. It means a combined reduction of roughly $900,000 this year and the next, according to the Department of Public Works.
Still, it remains to be seen what course the council will take to generate enough revenue to finance a list of repairs required by the state at Sutton Road, fund even small-scale improvements at that site and, at the same time, pay down a $700,000 deficit in the solid-waste capital account. Topping the list ideas on the table are a parcel fee, a gate fee, a recycling fee, a property tax, a sizable escalation in tipping fees, or some combination.
Islanders can offer input as the council continues to explore funding options at a Jan. 19 workshop, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the council hearing room in Friday Harbor.
Currently, tipping fees generate roughly 98 percent of the solid-waste operation’s revenue, which totaled $2.8 million in 2008. About $1.3 million of that total came from tipping fees at Sutton Road.
According to Public Works Director Jon Shannon, solid-waste’s funding woes may be an opportunity for the council to fix a system that “everyone knows is broken”. He added that the overarching goal of the county solid-waste management plan, to reduce, reuse and recycle, and the primary funding mechanism of the operation, tipping fees, are in conflict.
“It seems like an opportunity to move beyond the old thinking, that there’s always going to be a lot of garbage and that we’re only going to have to pay a couple dollars per can,” he said.
In addition, Shannon noted the annual cost of hauling garbage and recycled materials to the mainland are likely to rise by about $1 million a year after the 10-year contract with Waste Management expires in 2012.
The council noted that a substantial drop in the amount of garbage collected by the solid-waste operation countywide in the past 17 months means there’s even less money available just to pay for improvements required by the state at Sutton Road. Roughly 2,000 fewer tons were collected in that time period compared with the previous 17 months, according to Public Works.
Rosenfeld maintains the county can piggy-back on the improvements that must be made at the Sutton Road site to set the stage for enhanced services at that facility over time. He believes that a parcel fee could act as a stable source of funding and that the facility can be improved in “phases”.
“We can do the work we have to do and make it into something that will work for our community for awhile,” he said.
