DATE: April 17, 2018
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Second Hearing of Amendment to Master Schedule of Fees - Solid Waste
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Conduct second hearing and adopt Ordinance to amend Fresno County Master Schedule of Fees, Charges, and Recovered Costs Subsection 2801 of Section 2800 - Solid Waste and waive reading of the Ordinance in its entirety.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action would revise the Master Schedule of Fees, Charges, and Recovered Costs based on the Department of Public Works and Planning costs to dispose of green waste. This item is Countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may direct staff to use current fees or propose alternative fees, which may not recover 100% of costs.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. The proposed fee for green waste disposal has been calculated to recover 100% of the cost for disposal.
DISCUSSION:
The first hearing to amend the Master Schedule of Fees was held on April 3, 2018.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 required regional agencies to divert from disposal 50% of all solid waste through reduction, recycling, and composting. Under the act, solid waste landfills, such as American Avenue Disposal Site (AADS), were allowed to process green waste and use it as Alternative Daily Cover (ADC), which constituted diversion through recycling and was not considered disposal.
To be made suitable for use as ADC, staff at AADS would run approximately 60 tons of green waste received monthly through the County owned wood grinder. This proved to be costly due to the grinder’s high fuel consumption and costly wear components.
On January 1, 2020, a more ambitious goal of 75% diversion will commence and Assembly Bill 1594 (Chapter 719, Statutes of 2014) will end the practice of using processed green waste as ADC and counting it as diversion through recycling. Green waste will no longer have a beneficial use at AADS, in fact, will be detrimental to meeting the 75% diversion goal.
In anticipation of the more stringent standards for green waste, staff searched for alternatives that would allow the green waste to continue to be diverted under the new rules, but would also be economical. Finding a third party that would take the green waste off-site to be composted was the only solution that met both criteria.
Many vendors, however, stated that due to uncertainty with the phasing in of new regulations by Cal Recycle regarding green waste, they were not taking on additional waste streams. Kochergen Farms Composting, Inc. (Kochergen) was the one vendor that showed interest and proposed that they could dispatch a truck once contacted by the County that would be loaded by a county Equipment Operator using the county-owned wheel loader and transport the green waste off-site for composting at a cost of $23.75 per ton.
In November 2015, the Department implemented a pilot program to determine the actual cost of handling green waste based on the vendor’s proposal, the cost of operating the county-owned wheel loader to load the waste and the hourly rate for an Equipment Operator. After nearly two years of data collection, it was determined that the actual cost incurred by the County to handle the green waste is $28.50 per ton, as detailed in Attachment A.
Compared with other local green waste disposal facilities (see Map on Attachment C), AADS will remain competitive at $28.50 per ton. The average load of green waste received at AADS in 2017 weighed 0.49 tons and would cost $13.97 for disposal at the proposed rate. That same load would cost $9.80 to $48.00 to dispose of if taken to one of the other local green waste disposal facilities (see Local Rates on Attachment A).
Recommended updates to the Master Schedule of Fees for Section 2800 - Solid Waste are detailed in Attachment B. The fees charged for Subsection 2801 - American Avenue Disposal Site, (a)(2) General Refuse - Clean Green Waste will increase 65% from $18.60 per ton to $28.50 per ton and shall be adjusted each July 1, beginning July 1, 2019 by 2.5%, as the General Refuse rates are in accordance with Landfill Use Agreement No. 14-737 between the County and the City of Fresno. Subsection 2801 - American Avenue Disposal Site, (c) (2) Minimum Load - Up to 640 lbs. of green waste, will be deleted. The Department recommends that there no longer be a minimum charge for loads under 640 pounds of green waste and each load charged according to its weight at the General Refuse - Clean Green Waste rate of $28.50 per ton.
The proposed fees ensure proper cost recovery and have been reviewed and recommended to be added to the Master Schedule of Fees by the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector.
With your Board’s approval, the new rate will take effect on July 1, 2018 and will be posted at AADS.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #13 - April 3, 2018
BAI #34 - January 13, 2009
BAI #2 - December 19, 2008
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
Attachment A
Attachment B
Attachment C
MSF Ordinance
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa