THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 22, 1994 TAG: 9412220006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
The Southeastern Public Service Authority, one of the rare successes of regional cooperation in Hampton Roads, is struggling to redefine its mission now that trash has become treasure. Business as usual is not an option.
When what has evolved into a trash-hauling, landfill-operating, power-generating, recycling agency was formed in the mid-1970s, localities were grateful just to have somewhere to stash their trash. Now, private companies know there's money in refuse disposal and recycling, and SPSA has so much competition that localities could face huge price increases for disposal of their trash at SPSA's Suffolk landfill.
The simple answer: Let private companies take over. Since government's role is to provide services that are otherwise not available, and since trash-hauling and -disposing are now competitive businesses, let free enterprise handle the region's trash.
But not so fast: The eight localities served by SPSA - Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Isle of Wight and Southampton counties - backed a series of bonds totaling $274 million, and an expansion once expected to have been needed soon after the turn of the century could cost another $300 million-plus.
Unless private haulers, either as individuals or in partnership, are willing to take on SPSA debt and offer the same services, privatization alone is not going to be the answer.
Additionally, Suffolk pays no tipping fees for residential trash disposal and reduced fees for commercial disposal, saving the city about $2 million a year; and Virginia Beach enjoys a cost cap for disposing of ash and other residue from SPSA's trash-burning operations. How likely is it for private operators to offer similar deals?
Even though the permitting process for landfills is long and complicated, SPSA officials would be hard-pressed to convince member localities that expansion plans should go forward. Commercial haulers, which once had no choice except the Suffolk landfill, collect about 53 percent of the area's solid waste, and increasing tons of it are going to private landfills. That will extend the life of the existing SPSA landfill.
One hauler alone reduced its delivery to Suffolk by 80 percent, costing SPSA about $3.5 million a year. With five private landfills east of Interstate 95, cost-cutting opportunities abound. Businesses would be foolish not to take them.
Durwood S. Curling, executive director of SPSA, calls the situation ``critical. Suffolk Mayor S. Chris Jones, who heads a special task force that will start meeting early next year to chart a new course for SPSA, says everything will be on the table. Both are right.
SPSA boosters - and there's no argument about the essential services the agency provides - must recognize that changing conditions mandate new roles. Perpetuating an agency is not necessarily in the public interest.
Privatization proponents must consider that there's much more at stake than determining who can handle our trash most cheaply in the short run. The answer may lie somewhere in between. If private haulers can provide what's needed for SPSA to meet its commitment for refuse-derived fuel less expensively than SPSA, perhaps the agency should enter the trash-buying business. Or, for that matter, contract with the private sector to run the whole show and save the taxpayers money. by CNB