Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130119
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They're simply fighting for their business lives.
And as Steve, the younger brother, addressed the Board of Supervisors on Monday night, he worried that an increase in landfill fees would spell the end to the family's 25-year-old trash collection business.
Sharpe was among seven speakers to address the board during a public hearing on the county's proposed $69.3 million budget.
``I don't see us being able to pass on any more [fee] increases to our customers,'' he said. ``If you want the little man out, say so tonight.''
The plight of private trash collectors in the county became intertwined with budgetary concerns late last year, when the supervisors decided that a new landfill should pay for itself.
In December, the supervisors imposed a fee for dumping to help pay for the landfill's development and operation.
Sharpe Brothers Sanitation had about 500 customers when the fee was imposed. Now, the small company is down to about 350.
``The people it hurts most are the senior citizens,'' Henry Sharpe says.
Some elderly customers depend on the brothers not only to haul their trash, but to walk up to their house and carry it away. The brothers worry that if they go out of business, those customers will have no way to get garbage to the ``green boxes'' provided by the county.
The supervisors already are cutting private haulers a break. The standard landfill tipping fee is $61 per ton. Even with the proposed $7 increase, private haulers would pay only $38.
The board, like many local governing bodies, is grappling with an abundance of financial problems as it attempts to balance the needs of the community against its ability to pay.
When it started budget deliberations in February, it faced a $1.1 million shortfall in revenue to meet projected expenditures. After cutting several hundred thousand dollars in expenditures, it still faces the prospect of a one-cent increase in the real estate tax rate and a $3 increase in the motorcycle license fee.
Pete Peterson, the president of Bunker Hill Foods, urged the board to scrutinize once again all expenditures before raising fees.
Bunker Hill would have to spend an additional $3,000 a month because of the increase in landfill fees.
Peterson said he still sees some expenditures that can be cut.
``Some items don't pass the smell test,'' he said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB