Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 27, 1993 TAG: 9305270079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"We can't compete with that," Fuzzy Minnix, chairman of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, said Wednesday.
Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County will begin paying about $55 a ton later this year to dispose of their garbage in a new regional landfill on Fort Lewis Mountain.
The landfill authority said Salem will pay one-third less for the next five years, but officials with other valley governments predicted that taxpayers will would come out ahead in the long run with a public landfill.
"This is not a short-term problem," said Roanoke City Manager Bob Herbert. "We have to look at this for the next 40 to 60 years."
The regional landfill, financed by $33 million in revenue bonds, is expected to last as long as 60 years.
Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County never considered turning waste disposal over to a private company because of the uncertainties and risks involved.
Minnix said a public landfill will allow the valley to insulate itself from market swings that could leave them no control over prices or availability of landfill space.
"You don't want to be out there every two or three years trying to find a solution," Minnix said. "We have a good plan. It's a long-term solution even though other short-term solutions might be economical right now.
"Long-term, we're going to be better off."
Herbert said shipping waste to faraway landfills could leave valley governments responsible for cleaning up environmental problems they did not create.
"We don't want to put our stuff with other people's garbage who we do not know and have no control over," he said.
Salem was looking for a short-term solution when it entered into a contract Monday with Chambers Development Co., a Pennsylvania company that operates landfills in Charles City County and Amelia County.
Salem may not need much landfill space by the end of the decade. Salem City Council may seek state permission to venture into a new process that would grind up household garbage and turn it into market-grade compost.
The five-year deal with Chambers will give Salem time to consider its options once state regulations that come into effect in October force the city to stop burying trash in unlined trenches at Mowles Spring Park.
Wednesday, Salem City Manager Randy Smith disclosed more details about the Chambers contract.
The disposal price involves two parts: a shipping fee of $14.77 a ton and a tipping fee of $23.15 a ton at the Chambers landfill in Amelia County.
Smith acknowledged that Salem could end up paying a higher per-ton rate because of the way shipping costs are figured. The transportation fee is $325 a load for trucks capable of carrying 22 tons. The per-ton fee would increase, Smith said, if trucks leave Salem less than fully loaded.
The contract price also does not include Salem's cost of transferring trash from municipal garbage trucks to tractor-trailers.
Smith said the Cleveland Avenue building that houses the city's now-defunct garbage incinerator will be turned into a transfer station that will use existing equipment and personnel.
Salem's decision not to join the regional landfill authority should not be taken as a sign of a lack of interest in valley cooperation, Smith said.
"It was a business decision. It doesn't mean we're out of step. It just means we'll be doing something different."
The contract with Salem comes at a time when Chambers is trying to overcome accounting problems that caused its stock price to plunge last year and led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.
"We have looked into their situation and are satisfied there is no problem," Smith said. "I'm not concerned at all about their financial stability. Even if I was a stockholder I would not be concerned."
By 1992, Chambers had become the nation's fastest-growing waste company with 17 landfills with total capacity of 184 million tons a year.
In March 1992, however, Chambers announced that unaccepted accounting procedures had led the company to inflate its profits by $362 million since it became a public company in 1985.
Overnight, the company's reported profits of $154 million during that period turned into a $208 million loss.
The unorthodox accounting measures included treating operating expenses such as lobbying and public relations as capital cost amortized over several years.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that company founder and President John G. Rangos Sr. threw lavish parties at landfill openings - complete with shrimp and roast pork - to proclaim the sites clean and safe.
In Virginia, Chambers hired two state legislators to lobby citizens' groups opposed to permits for the landfills in Amelia and Charles City County, the Journal reported.
by CNB