County requests bids for curbside trash collection

Officials trying to recapture some lost tipping fees

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009

Prompted by a nod from the county commissioners during an early July briefing, staffers have put together a bid to gather solicitations from contractors in the solid waste business. The month-long window is open to garbage gurus who think they have what it takes to standardize trash treatment for a growing county.

"We're testing the waters, no bones about it," said Dennis Fleming, chief of environmental resources for the county's public facilities department. "If you look at mature communities across America, this is what happens. The existing service is excellent. We have good trash collectors. We aren't doing this because of a service problem."

But the lack of a problem could turn into one, as some wonder about the effects of fixing a system they say isn't broken.

"It's the elimination of choice," said a La Plata woman who requested anonymity because she is affiliated with one of the county's 18 solid waste haulers. "There's also the issue of pricing: Right now we have competition. Essentially this is a special taxation; what else are we paying for? There's a major revenue [shortfall], and I think the county is asking residents to pick it up."

The cost to residents is one of the key factors in conducting the proposal request, Fleming said. A survey of local trash haulers and their services found that the average monthly cost of curbside pickup runs between $25 and $30.

According to an e-mail sent by Daniel Mears, town manager for La Plata, the most common pickup and payment for residents of the town is $73.10 per quarter for a weekly trash pickup.

"All residential properties in La Plata are required to have trash service," Mears wrote. "The Town has over 2,600 residential accounts and collects over 400 tons of refuse per month, which is disposed of at the Charles County landfill."

The hope is to encourage competitive pricing that falls at or below those costs, Fleming said.

The proposal asks haulers to consider service to roughly 6,800 customers in the development district, homes that already benefit from the county's sewer and water service and participate in the curbside recycling pickup.

The refuse to be collected falls into the category of municipal waste, defined in the request for proposals as "solid waste normally collected from residential and commercial sources … including but not limited to: garbage, trash, rubbish, refuse, offal, beds, mattresses, sofas, bicycles, and baby carriages."

In this case, Fleming said, the collection would be restricted to trash from residences. The haulers would be required to unload their bounty at the county's landfill; a practice Fleming said would help the problem of keeping up a declining stock.

While a steady stream of trash might not be everyone's image of good business, it's a feat the county landfill has been struggling to accomplish. The county collects a fee of $70 for each ton disposed of at the county landfill. Residents pay 75 cents per bag when they drop off their own trash, so down to the last quarter, less trash means less money.

After a mid-1990s Supreme Court decision which ruled trash a commodity, the county could no longer demand that loads be tipped within its borders, Fleming said.

Earlier this year, the commissioners struggled with balancing the already strained county budget while keeping in mind there was a three-year decline in the number of tons dropped at the landfill. Fleming said that slump could be directly related to Waste Management Inc. which, until 2006, delivered half of the county's trash to the landfill.

"A majority of the waste leaves the county and ends up in Virginia landfills," Fleming said.

The landfill's proposed $4.8 million budget for fiscal 2010 was accepted by the county commissioners earlier this year. It represents a 7.2 percent drop in both revenues and expenditures from the previous year, which is not what an enterprise fund should do, Fleming said.

The goal is to break even, Fleming said, but as a result of Waste Management's withdrawal the county is losing about $1 million a year.

"The choice to discontinue use [of the Charles County landfill] was strictly a business decision," said Waste Management Maryland spokeswoman Lisa Kardell. "Over time it made more economic sense to keep costs down by using our own facilities."

As for whether Waste Management would be tossing its hat into the proposal ring, Kardell would not comment.

Fleming said by accepting St. Mary's County trash for the landfill, and dipping into some of the landfill's reserve accounts, the hope is to get out of the red by 2012.

But climbing back into the black isn't the only goal, Fleming said.

As the county goes from predominantly suburban and rural to a jurisdiction with a strong urban core, it's important to make progress in the development district, Fleming said.

Observations and comments from neighboring jurisdictions and local residential associations started the initial consideration of a curbside solid waste collection, Fleming said, as well as consideration of what he referred to as "economies of scale."

"How efficient is it to operate 13 different sewage treatment plants? We can reduce our carbon footprint. There's also the issue of truck traffic and safety," Fleming explained.

With bulk and yard waste still requiring their own pickups, as well as continued recycling service, residents might notice less of a variety of truck traffic, the La Plata critic said, but that doesn't mean fewer engines rumbling down roads.

"The county might be limiting haulers but it's not limiting the trucks," she said.

The proposal request has Pam Kasemeyer, counsel to the Maryland-Delaware Solid Waste Association, worrying the county won't just be limiting haulers, but shutting down some small businesses.

The association Kasemeyer advises is comprised mostly of hauling and processing businesses, as well as some landfills located in the private sector.

"The industry is very concerned about the [proposal request]," Kasemeyer said. "It isn't very clear what problem the county is trying to solve by going in this direction."

Among the many concerns Kasemeyer has for the proposal is the pressure placed on smaller businesses to keep up with their larger competitors. Simply preparing the necessary requirements to be considered for a proposal can have a severe impact on a small businesses' budget, and that's not even counting the loss of clients should another hauler win the bid.

Fleming said smaller businesses need not be intimidated by the process. The proposal allows a business to choose whether it would like to service just one route — made up of 1,000 homes — several routes, or plan to cover the whole test district.

"We're deliberately doing this keeping in mind small local haulers," Fleming said. "We're soliciting back from haulers what they propose."

Kasemeyer asked even if a small business were to win a bid, what would happen to existing contracts between individuals and their hauler, and whole neighborhood associations and their collectors?

"A homeowners association can tailor [the service]. They can decide what days work," Kasemeyer explained.

Charles County Attorney Roger Fink said there is such a thing as displacing competition for public services, which gives the county the right to step in and take over a service such as water or waste collection.

As for residents who would have their own hauling to the landfill interrupted, Kasemeyer said the county would find "residents aren't happy about that either."

"I think [the current system] is working well, and I don't see the problem the county is trying to solve," Kasemeyer said. "Bring the industry in and we'll talk about it."

Barbara DeVoe, treasurer of the Berry Hill Manor Homeowners Association, said a survey was sent around her development in 2004, in an effort to gauge residents' opinions of entering into a single contract with a solid waste hauler.

"If we did it as a community, we could get a better price," DeVoe explained.

The survey asked whether residents had their own providers or hauled their own waste.

Neighbors were also asked whether they would be in favor of one provider who would come two days a week.

Located in Waldorf, Berry Hill Manor is divided into two developments, one with 143 homes and one with 88, DeVoe said. The former conducted the survey.

Of those 143 homes, 38 owners responded; 33 of them answered in the positive.

Because a majority was not reached, the matter was dropped, though all of the residents who responded had concerns about pricing, DeVoe said.

The neighbors handled their trash hauling individually, DeVoe said; some drove it to the landfill themselves, while others had their own contracts with a business.

"Residents were very happy with the service they got," DeVoe said.

As for her opinion of whether or not the request for proposals is a smart move by the county, DeVoe — like Kasemeyer — warned against the adverse affects of the contract on small businesses.

Despite having fielded similar questions and concerns at his monthly meeting on Monday, Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D) said the verdict to those financial issues was still out.

"We've not fleshed out any of that part of the decision. We're assessing what would be an appropriate funding source … but everything is on a feasibility level right now; if it is implemented, how could it be done," Collins explained.

The commissioners will have the final say as to who is awarded a bid or if the collection system will change at all. The proposal request will offer information and answers that can be used for recommendations to the board in its decision on the service, Fleming said.

To view the request go to www.charlescounty.org/businesses.html

msomers@somdnews.com