Garbage Facts-The whole truth and nothing but the truth?

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ROCK HILL - The Sullivan County Legislature's Public Disinformation Machine is pushing full steam ahead to make sure that a fatally flawed Solid Waste “User Fee” is imposed on unsuspecting Sullivan County residents, business owners, and taxpayers.  

The imposition of this new proposed "User Fee" comes after a report by MSW Consultants entitled "Solid Waste Fee Evaluation" was published on October 14, 2009. The full report can be found at www.co.sullivan.ny.us on the right side of the Home Page under links. 

Within minutes of the MSW Consultant's report presentation, the Chairman of the Legislature Jonathan Rouis scheduled a Special Executive Committee Meeting on November 5, 2009 to establish these ”Solid Waste User Fees.”  

The Public Hearing was set to be held at 12:00 noon and the Local Law was to be adopted at 12:05 PM!

In my two years experience in the Sullivan County Legislature, I have found that this type of rush job is standard operating procedure for the Rouis-Fanaslau  administration.......wait to the last minute and push legislation through without proper discussion in the hopes that no one will ask the tough questions.

Unfortunately for them, I came to the November 5, 2009 Executive Committee Meeting ready to ask questions.  I pointed out a number of  fatal flaws in the proposed user fee structure.  So too did a number of Sullivan County haulers and assessors attending the short hearing.

The Special Meeting of the Legislature held on November 5, 2009 was recessed until Tuesday November 10, 2009 at 9:00 AM.    Before the recessed meeting, after sensing that there might be opposition, the Chairman sent out a last minute Press Release from the Office of Disinformation stating that the recessed meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for November 12, 2009 at 9:00 AM. 

These tactics are unacceptable.  Many of my constituents took time off of work to attend this November 10th Special Meeting only to be turned away at the door while being told they could always come back on Thursday.  The last minute change of the meeting for political expediency is an insult to all taxpayers.

So tomorrow, we start over again.

In its present form, the proposed Solid Waste User Fee with a Zero Tip Fee law will invite out-of-county trash into Sullivan County, greatly discourage recycling and place an undue financial burden on small business owners and residents who are already struggling to make ends meet.  It is basically a tax increase of 25 or more percent.

The proposed Solid Waste User Fee is being erroneously based upon Real Property Class Codes that has little relationship to actual solid waste generation rates. 

Ironically, the MSW Consultant Study actually cites many limitations of the proposed Solid Waste User Fee that the Legislature will soon enact as a local law. 

Throughout the document, the consultants point out various limitations of the study such as:

"Note that it is not possible to directly validate the waste generation estimated in this study."

"Zero tip fees....would create a financial incentive for private haulers to attempt to dispose of out-of-county wastes for FREE at the County Landfill."

"Sullivan County's tax rolls are inconsistent in indicating the number of dwellings units per multi-family apartment.   Some apartment parcels indicate the actual number of dwelling units, while some do not."

"It was not possible within the time constraints of this project to extract data that could meaningfully inform on the actual generation rate in Sullivan County."

"It was not possible within the schedule and scope of this project to probe further into the underlying data from Rockland County on which these unit charges are based."

"It was not known at the outset of this project what data were available from the towns and villages in Sullivan County to assist with the development of County-specific generation rates."

 

Even with these fatal flaws, Rouis and Fanaslau are still pushing this Local Law through for a vote by the County Legislature while ignoring expert advice that was presented during the Public Hearing. 

Under the proposed solid waste user fee local law, the average homeowner will pay $180 a year on their tax bill that will be due in January of each year. 

The fee for non-residential users will vary, but the MSW report provides some examples.

The following are some real world examples of solid waste user fee that will be imposed on small business owners if the proposed Local Law is enacted:

IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT THESE USER FEES DO NOT COVER THE COST OF HIRING A HAULER TO PROVIDE A DUMPSTER AND TO PICK UP YOUR SOLID WASTE - THOSE FEES ARE ABOVE THE PROPOSED USER FEE!!

The proposed user assigns a "Waste Generation Rate" for different uses and multiplies that rate by building area [e.g. square footage] to arrive at the solid waste user fee.  Besides the inherent problems with the way Real Property Tax Data is collected, this approach fails to take into consideration the actual amount of solid waste that is generated for each business. 

As a result, two like businesses with the same square footage will pay the same rate even if one recycles and the other does not.

So obviously, the proposed methodology for calculating the solid waste user fee is imperfect.

Recently, I asked for the County Manager's Office to provide me with the cost to ten businesses in my district.   The numbers generated using the Real Property Data were all incorrect and had to be manually calculated by staff members in the Office of Management & Budget.  

There are 4,800 non-residential properties in the County so a lot of time will be needed to perfect the flawed user fee system.

On tomorrow morning, when this matter is scheduled to be heard again, the new law should be tabled.  While Rouis and Fanaslau state that there are a few bugs to be worked out we cannot guarantee that they will address these issues after they pass the Local Law.   I seriously doubt they every will if the law passes on Thursday.

If the past is any indication, we can be assured the details will not be addressed appropriately.  

On June 19, 1999, the Sullivan County Legislature entered into a nine-year deal to import trash-for-cash.   According to the Times Herald Record, the Legislature promised the deal worth more than $47 Million would "wipe out bonds used to fund the landfill."   Today we are saddled with $40 Million in Phase I and Phase II Landfill Debt that will cost the County $4.5 Million annually in debt service until the Year 2022. 

According to a January 11, 2007 Times Herald Record Article - the County's 2007 Sales Tax Hike from 7.5 to 8% was to be used improve the County's reserves.   The County Leadership was quoted as saying "The additional revenue would be dedicated or earmarked for specific public policy areas and position the county for its creditworthiness and need to go to the bond market for a new county jail." 

The County Manager went on to say "The County will also need to go to the bond market on Wall Street for a new jail. If we don't increase our fund balance, we could face an additional $10 million to $12 million in finance charges alone." 

Since the new sales tax was imposed, the County has continued to deplete its fund balance, not add to it.

The bottom line is the proposed Solid Waste User Fee needs a lot more work and revision.  It also needs more public input before it’s even considered by the Legislature.  

Small business owners and indeed all residents should have a clear understanding of the Solid Waste Fees that will be imposed upon them.  

To that end, the proposed Local Law should include an addendum with the proposed Solid Waste User Fee for all 4,800 non-residential and 40,000 residential parcels in the County so that the TRUE COST and TRUE REVENUES to be derived are known and their TRUE IMPACT fully understood.

Our goal should be to reduce our solid waste stream, encourage recycling and to run a cost-effective Solid Waste System.  Most importantly, we need the whole truth and nothing about the truth about the costs associated with a new trash program.

There may be a place for a modest user fee that improves solid waste services such as providing year-round Household Hazardous Waste disposal, composting facilities, Material Recovery Facility enhancements and other measures to improve the way we handle solid waste.  However, enacting a user fee to generate cash is quite another thing. 
 

Unfortunately, it appears the goal of the proposed Local Law is to create another Stop Gap Revenue Stream for the Legislature - one that will only encourage the leadership to keep on spending money we don’t have any more.

If you have any questions, please call me at 845-794-3000 or email me at alan@legislatorsorenesen.com.