THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 19, 1994 TAG: 9412190074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
Local governments in Hampton Roads began a cooperative experiment 21 years ago by creating an agency to do a job no one wanted - taking out the trash.
But now, with debts looming and private companies moving in on what has become a lucrative business, the Southeastern Public Service Authority is itself in danger of being scrapped. Or, at least, recycled.
At a key meeting last week, anxious SPSA board members even uttered the ``p'' word - privatization. At its extreme, this could mean the dismantling of the agency. It would be replaced by private firms under contract to collect, haul, burn and recycle the 1.5 million tons of household garbage generated locally each year.
While such a dramatic turnabout is remote, significant changes are imminent for the agency and its 1 million customers in South Hampton Roads and in Franklin and Southampton and Isle of Wight counties.
In the short run, board members and officials agree that residents probably will pay more for fewer services once SPSA is revamped.
Curbside recycling already is being restructured with fewer collection days, and officials may attach a new fee to the program. Drop-off stations could close their doors earlier and on weekends, and some specialty services could be dropped altogether.
The process of charting a new course will begin in earnest in February, when a special task force of politicians, trash experts and industry officials convenes. Suffolk Mayor S. Chris Jones will head the committee.
``We'll be looking at the entire operation of SPSA as we know it,'' Jones said. ``We might be talking about doing away with some of the things we've been doing for years. Everything's on the table.''
Some board members feel that perhaps SPSA has outlived its effectiveness. Following a trend in government elsewhere, they believe that private contractors can generally do the job better and more cheaply.
``We can't compete against the private sector,'' said Luke McCoy, an assistant city manager for Portsmouth. ``City governments were set up to provide services not available,'' he said, such as garbage collection, at the time SPSA was begun in 1973. ``. . . but the times have changed.''
SPSA executive director Durwood S. Curling equates SPSA's financial crunch to a business suddenly faced with losing one-third of its income.
The lost income is millions of dollars that private waste haulers normally pay to SPSA for the right to dump their loads in its regional landfill in Suffolk. For years, haulers had no choice but to go to Suffolk.
But now, they can drive a few miles north and pay significantly lower tipping fees at landfills run by such corporate giants as Browning-Ferris Industries and Chambers Development Co. After several years of aggressive landfill development, five landfills now exist east of Interstate 95 and compete with SPSA.
The loss of revenue has come quickly and in big numbers. Just last November, trucks operated by Chambers delivered 8,860 tons of trash to SPSA's landfill. This November, Chambers dumped only 1,745 tons at Suffolk - an 80 percent reduction.
SPSA lost about $292,000 in tipping fees from that one contract in one month. Stretched over a year, that's a $3.5 million drop from Chambers alone.
Curling estimates that SPSA may lose as much as $11 million in revenue that way in 1994. And, he adds, the trend toward private landfilling is only growing.
SPSA needs to keep a consistent flow of money to pay its debts. To build an operation that includes recycling centers, transfer stations, household hazardous waste facilities and the Suffolk landfill, SPSA borrowed more than $274 million. That amounts to a $264 debt for each resident in the service region.
While sympathizing with SPSA's predicament, private trash-disposal companies say they shouldn't be vilified for competing with SPSA.
``We've made substantial investments in the region and now we're taking advantage of those investments,'' said Jeffrey Southard, director of government affairs for BFI in Richmond. ``We don't really see what's wrong with that.''
One option that private interests will likely push in discussions with the special task force, Southard said, is an assurance that SPSA cap its landfill once it fills up, estimated in the year 2002.
In exchange, he said, the companies would probably agree to deliver enough trash to keep SPSA comfortably in compliance with its contract to supply energy to the Navy through its waste-to-energy plant in Portsmouth. That plant burns 43 percent of all garbage and is a key component of SPSA's operations.
Curling, however, is not likely to bite. He insists that SPSA should continue planning for a landfill expansion in Suffolk and for a new landfill in Isle of Wight County.
Stopping these projects, he insists, will limit SPSA's future and give private haulers even more leverage in the marketplace.
SPSA board members are not so sure. Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf questioned the wisdom of plowing ahead with expensive investments when the agency is worried about paying its existing bills. MEMO: THE FUTURE FOR SPSA:\ An extreme possibility:
Dismantling SPSA, replacing it with private firms under contract.
More likely:
Higher fees for trash collection.
Closing drop-off stations earlier and on weekends.
A certain change:
Cutting curbside recycling to every other week instead of weekly.
ILLUSTRATION: File photo
KEYWORDS: GARBAGE TRASH SOUTHEASTERN PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY
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