Council mulls waste disposal

Staff

Published Friday, January 9, 2009

City Council members agree that plenty of advance planning will be needed to solve the problem of waste disposal in Suffolk.

However, how to go about solving it is a far more daunting problem, something the council attempted to tackle during its retreat on Friday morning.

“We know that we’re riding a horse that’s gonna die,” said Councilman Charles Brown, of the 2018 sunset date of the Southeastern Public Service Authority.

The regional trash disposal authority, to which Suffolk and seven other localities belong, has been troubled by poor financial practices, decreasing revenue and escalating debt in the past decade. The company’s current debt stands near $240 million, and the authority has proposed raising the tipping fee – the cost for localities to dump trash – to $245 per ton, the highest such fee in the nation.

Rowland Taylor, executive director of SPSA, identified “sweetheart deals” with Suffolk and Virginia Beach, made when the organization was formed, as one of the multiple fatal flaws of SPSA’s business model.

Based on the agreements, Suffolk pays nothing to dispose of its trash in exchange for hosting the authority’s landfill. Virginia Beach pays a capped rate that would equate to less than a fourth of the new per-ton disposal rate, in exchange for its participation in the authority.

Council members and city administrators, however, rejected the notion that Suffolk is partly to blame for SPSA’s debt.

“I think Suffolk gets a little bit of a bad rap,” said Councilman Jeffrey Gardy. He pointed out that some communities in the United States ask to be paid for hosting a landfill.

“We did not get greedy and ask for anything,” he said.

City Manager Selena Cuffee-Glenn also said that all SPSA’s member localities had the option to host the landfill, but Suffolk was willing.

“Every community had that choice, but we stepped up to the plate,” she said. “No apologies from Suffolk.”

Earlier this week, SPSA declined to entertain a proposal at this time from New York-based ReEnergy Holdings LLC to purchase SPSA’s assets for $205 million.

A letter addressed to ReEnergy listed a number of concerns with the proposal, including the requirement for each member to terminate its agreement with SPSA and enter a new one with ReEnergy. The letter also stated that a sale of the entire SPSA entity would conflict with current negotiations to sell the waste-to-energy facilities.

Council members and city leaders agreed the time has come to start planning for the end of SPSA.

“It is incumbent upon us to look at other options,” Cuffee-Glenn said. “We need to exhaust all options available to our citizens.”

Councilman Leroy Bennett, Suffolk’s representative on the SPSA board, said Suffolk needs to begin budgeting for paying tipping fees – an inevitable result of SPSA’s impending end, he said.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Bennett said. “Sooner or later, Suffolk is going to start paying a tip fee, which we have not been paying.”

Unless Suffolk continues to host the region’s landfill, Bennett pointed out, Suffolk will eventually have to pay tip fees somewhere.

Councilman Charles Parr asked for an investigation into new technology to enhance waste disposal options in the city. Others pointed out that waste disposal is a far bigger problem than SPSA.

“It is huge, and it appears to be imminent,” Mayor Linda Johnson said.

Other council members, including Brown and Joe Barlow, emphasized the benefits of regionalism. Brown suggested reaching out to Suffolk’s western neighbors.

Johnson pushed the practical side of the issue, and the ultimate goal.

“Our goal is to make sure Suffolk citizens’ trash is picked up.”

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