City, county fight over waste fees

Infighting between city and county leaders escalated again this month after Spokane County commissioners refused to go along with modest increases in fees charged for dumping garbage or yard waste directly at city-county facilities in the Spokane area.

The City Council in December approved the rate increases worth an estimated $700,000 in 2007, but county commissioners rejected those new fees. As a result, the City Council is being asked to rescind the increases.

Money to offset the lost revenue will have to come out of regional solid waste reserves, which were held for debt financing, landfill closures years ago and replacement of equipment, city officials said.

Under long-standing agreement, the county and city have participated jointly in the construction and operation of the waste incinerator on Geiger Boulevard, transfer stations outside Spokane, associated recycling facilities and costly landfill closures.

In December, city officials approved a budget that would have ended the practice of accepting the first 100 pounds of yard waste free at the city-county facilities and would have established a new minimum charge of $5 per load up to $40 per ton. The old rate for yard waste was $35 a ton.

Also, regular garbage would have been subject to an increased minimum load of $10, up from the old minimum of $7, but the rate per ton would have remained at $98.

The county refusal comes after disputes between the city and county over a city annexation sought along North Division Street; city utility taxes charged against sewer service in the county; city-county cooperation on land-use planning on the North Side; and real estate taxes to be paid following city involvement in the operation of the River Park Square parking garage several years ago.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Councilman Al French said, “We are going to experience a $700,000 loss because of the lack of a good working relationship with the county.”

County leaders have lodged several complaints about the regional solid waste system over the past year. They unsuccessfully asked Mayor Dennis Hession to create separate directors for the regional system and city’s trash collection department. They argued that it’s a conflict of interest to have a director that oversees both.

Hession said it would result in needless added expense.

Commissioners have also questioned the financial value of using the electricity-producing incinerator in the long run and say they rejected the city’s request for higher fees, in part, because the city had been unresponsive to their requests for information.

“This is really the only point of leverage that we have as a partner in this regional system,” Commissioner Mark Richard said last month.

The county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee is in the process of updating its state-mandated solid waste plan. Members of the group have complained that the city seems uninterested in exploring options other than current operations.

City officials said they are looking to increase revenue from electricity sales once their existing power contracts expire in the next several years.

Commissioners also say they want to keep fees down because the city is sitting on a large pool of reserves for the regional system. County officials say they don’t want the city to still be sitting on the money when the county’s agreement ends in 2014.

The city’s chief financial officer, Gavin Cooley, said the reserves are dedicated to operating what has been a well-financed system controlled by specific contracts that require the county to maintain revenues going to the operations and debt service. He said the county may be violating those contracts by refusing the rate increases.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said of the commissioners’ action.