ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605060082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
One of the largest trash haulers in the country wants to take over residential trash collection in the city of Roanoke.
Browning Ferris Industries, owner of the Roanoke-based Handy Dump, says taxpayers would save money if the city privatized garbage pickup for 36,000 residential customers.
But city officials say the company's numbers are wrong - that the city can do the job cheaper while safeguarding employee jobs and the quality of customer service.
And privatization now could interfere with efforts to regionalize refuse collection with area governments, said Barry Key, chief of the city's Management & Budget office.
In recent weeks, BFI has run an all-out lobbying campaign for privatization, meeting privately with elected City Council members and candidates; taking a poll of residents; hiring an accounting firm to demonstrate how taxpayers could save money; and publishing a news release urging residents to ask city officials to privatize the garbage service.
The issue is likely to arise during City Council budget deliberations this week.
As part of his fiscal 1997 budget, City Manager Bob Herbert is proposing the city shift to automated trash pickup on most residential routes, using large flip-top garbage cans and "one-armed" style trash trucks that are run by a single driver.
Roanoke County collects its trash that way.
In the case of alley collections - about 35 percent of residential pickups - the city would use semi-automated collections.
At a capital cost of just over $2.4 million for new trucks, flip-top containers and other items, the system would be implemented over two years. It would result in 25 fewer jobs in the city Solid Waste Disposal Department, a savings of about $707,000 annually.
Those 25 workers would be transferred to other city departments.
BFI says the city could save all the capital costs and spend the money on other items - such as a tax cut or Valley Metro subsidies - plus it could collect the trash for $600,000 less than the city would spend.
"Our offer provides the city with the opportunity to shrink the size of government, reduce taxes and operating expenses and improve services," said Mike Mee, market development representative for BFI's Southern Virginia Division.
Mee said BFI merely wants the city to put the service out to bid, which would be nonbinding if officials didn't like the proposals contractors submit. A poll of 400 residents showed 53 percent want trash pickup privatized, he said. BFI estimates it could collect residential customers for $57 per house per year, compared to $74 per year under the city's planned new system.
But Key said the BFI's numbers are wrong because they don't take into account the $707,000 the city will save each year from automating collections. He said that takes the city's per-household cost down to $51 annually - $6 per house lower than BFI's cost.
Another concern the city administration has is what would happen to trash workers. BFI won't guarantee them jobs, although it says it would make efforts to hire them if needed.
The company says it also will pay $50,000 to $100,000 for retraining the workers; give city schools a recycling curriculum worth $200,000; and institute a citywide crime-watch program if it gets the contract.
"Is this the time to look at privatization or should we look at it under regional service delivery?" with Roanoke County or other surrounding jurisdictions, Key asked. A consultant is studying that now.
Council's 1997 budget deliberations begin Wednesday, the day after elections. The issue also has made its way into campaigns, although most candidates sound leery.
Mayor David Bowers says he's in favor of taking a look at privatization. The potential savings sound "enticing. ... But I learned a long time ago that there are two sides to every story," Bowers said.
Councilwoman Linda Wyatt is absolutely against it. She says trash haulers typically win contracts at low rates, then jack them up later after a municipality has sold all its trash trucks and has no way to get back into the business.
"You've heard the line, `Beware of Greeks bearing gifts'? Well, beware of private industry offering savings," Wyatt said.
Republican mayoral challenger J. Patrick Green says the city "has to stay in the trash collection business," although there might be some areas of it which could be profitably privatized.
"It's a bad move," said council candidate Jeff Artis. "If it's not done properly, it's going to cost us money. I don't think City Council has done enough homework on the issue to make a recommendation."
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