ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
BY A 4-3 VOTE, Roanoke says it doesn't want to turn over trash collection to a regional authority.
In a decision that could stymie efforts to regionalize garbage collection in the valley, City Council on Monday night dumped a plan that would allow the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority to collect commercial and residential trash.
The 4-3 vote against a charter change for the authority came after an hour-long public hearing at which council members heard warnings of skyrocketing public costs for trash disposal - and perhaps even tax increases - if the resource authority isn't given the power to collect trash.
But private trash haulers argued the city, Roanoke County and Vinton would unfairly use taxpayer money to compete against them, an act that could waste public money while potentially driving private businesses out of the market.
They suggested the authority lower its $55 per ton tipping fee, already one of the highest in the state, to bring in more trash and increase revenues.
The vote leaves unanswered the question of how to preserve a guaranteed stream of garbage to the Hollins Road trash transfer station, where it is loaded onto rail cars and taken to the Smith Gap landfill.
"I think we've got a real problem," said Councilman Jack Parrott, who was on the losing end of the vote for the charter change. "Whether we like it or not, we're committed to this tipping fee. We can't lower it. They made this deal with the railroad [to haul the trash] that we've got to live with."
Private haulers have already begun taking garbage out of the state to cheaper landfills, and the authority depends on the revenues from that trash to pay off the $42 million the authority borrowed to build Smith Gap and the transfer station.
Nearly 60 percent of the authority's revenues come from fees generated by commercial trash collected by private haulers - Browning Ferris Industries, Waste Management of Virginia and Virginia Container Corp.
The issue in the hearing was whether the authority should be granted the power to collect commercial and residential trash, something its charter now prohibits. If it actually decided to begin doing it, it would have to go before the city, county and Vinton for another round of hearings.
"The $42 million investment made by the citizens of the Roanoke Valley must be protected," said John Hubbard, executive director of the resource authority. "The repayment of borrowed funds is of utmost importance and must be repaid through disposal fees paid by users or from the general funds of the local governments."
But Karen Freeland, a local representative of Browning Ferris Industries, responded that council was being asked to grant the authority power without a business plan.
"You're being directed down a path that doesn't make sense," she said, predicting that a publicly operated garbage business would create a budget drain similar to mass transit systems.
After the vote, Hubbard said council's action "sort of implies that they're not interested in the resource authority assisting them in the [regionalized] collection of residential waste," and potential cost savings from it.
Voting in favor of giving the resource authority the charter to collect trash were Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt and Councilmen Carroll Swain and Jack Parrott.
Voting against the proposal were Mayor David Bowers and Councilmen Jim Trout, William White and Nelson Harris.
The council members who voted against the charter change cited differing reasons. If one of them changes his mind, the vote could be reconsidered at council's next meeting on Oct. 7.
Trout called the request for the charter change a "blank check" that council shouldn't write until it sees a business plan.
Harris said he may change his mind on the issue, but he wanted to see constructive meetings between private trash haulers and representatives of local governments.
Bowers said he was against granting public authorities, which are governed by unelected boards, too much power.
Unlike a city council, "authorities don't have any direct accountability to voters," the mayor said.
Hearings on the issue still are scheduled before Vinton Town Council tonight at 7, and before the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on September 24 at 7 p.m. For the charter change to take effect, all three governments must agree.
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