Garbage haulers, suburban cities weigh alternatives to county landfill

Garbage haulers objecting to a proposed increase in dumping fees at King County's Cedar Hills Landfill have raised the possibility of taking their garbage — and their dollars — elsewhere.

Some suburban cities, worried that changes in the county's dump rates and policies could mean higher rates for their residents, also are beginning to think about looking for other places to take their garbage.

The two major trash haulers, Rabanco and Waste Management, have been invited to meet with the Metropolitan King County Council today to discuss their opposition to a proposed $10-per-ton increase in the "tipping fee" at the county dump.

The county's Solid Waste Division says it wants to raise the rate to recoup the true cost of handling the haulers' waste.

Jon Angin, Waste Management's Northwest regional vice president, told King County Executive Ron Sims in an Oct. 27 letter that his company is prepared to take garbage out of the county if requested to do so by any city with which the company holds a contract.

Angin said it would be cheaper for Waste Management and its customers to ship local garbage by train to the company's landfill in Arlington, Ore., than to use Cedar Hills. The company already sends five trainloads of Seattle garbage to the Oregon dump every week.

Rabanco operates a landfill in Klickitat County which, like the Waste Management landfill, already takes much of Seattle's waste.

Garbage haulers and suburban cities may face a legal obstacle to breaking away from Cedar Hills: interlocal agreements in which suburban cities promised to turn their entire waste stream over to the county through 2028.

The suburban cities, in turn, require haulers working in their jurisdictions to dump garbage only in the county-operated landfill or transfer stations. But some of those cities, upset over Sims' separate proposal to maintain human services by charging the Solid Waste Division $7 million in annual rent for use of the landfill, have notified the county they want to discuss the interlocal agreements and possibly renegotiate parts of them.

Larry Springer, mayor of Kirkland and chairman of the Suburban Cities Association, said the rent proposal is "incredibly bad public policy" and threatens to result in higher household garbage fees.

Springer said there is increasing talk among cities about looking at disposal options other than Cedar Hills.

"We as suburban cities are not obligated to King County," he said. "... If King County makes it prohibitively expensive and we can cut a better deal elsewhere, a lot of suburban cities would look at that very carefully."

Kent Mayor Jim White also expressed concern over the proposal for higher rates. "The bottom line is the ratepayers will pay more money — if not immediately, then sooner or later," White said.

Under Sims' rate-hike proposal, haulers would pay $69.50 for each ton of refuse they dump from semi-tractor trailers at Cedar Hills. The haulers now pay $59.50, an amount the county says doesn't cover its costs.

That "regional direct fee" is a discount from the $82.50 per ton charged to haulers when their dump trucks go to county transfer stations instead of the dump. It costs the county less to handle large loads at the dump than to handle smaller loads at the transfer stations.

"The county's interests here are recovering costs for the services that the county provides and providing accurate discounts for the services that aren't used. That's really the county's bottom line," said Jon Scholes, a legislative assistant to County Councilwoman Julia Patterson.

Because the haulers' collection rates are based on the transfer-station rate of $82.50 per ton, Scholes said, haulers are earning "pure profit" when they bypass transfer stations to go to the landfill.

The county last year charged haulers $14 million in tipping fees at the landfill.

County Councilwoman Carolyn Edmonds, D-Shoreline, said she would support a one-year adoption of Sims' proposal to charge rent for use of Cedar Hills, with the understanding that officials would seek a long-term resolution of the issue.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com