County mulls solid waste fee hike
SANDPOINT — Bonner County is considering raising its solid waste fees after a 10-year capital improvements plan identified several areas in need of improvement throughout the system.
Bonner County Solid Waste will be conducting a public hearing on the rate increases on Wednesday, Sept. 4. The hearing starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Bonner County Administration Building’s first-floor conference room.
The call for a public hearing follows a July 10 workshop with solid waste officials to discuss capital improvement projects.
High on the list of projects is a series of improvements to the county’s Colburn facility, the place where all solid waste in Bonner County is destined before being shipped out to a Waste Management landfill in Oregon. Wood waste stays here to be ground into hog fuel, while metal is baled and sold to Pacific Steel & Recycling, according to Bob Howard, the county’s director of solid waste.
“It’s the kind of nucleus of the whole system,” Howard said of Colburn.
The capital improvement plan, which was drawn up by Great West Engineering, identified notable concerns and issues at Colburn. It determined that waste transfer building, where garbage is pushed into trailers for shipment, is antiquated and undersized. It was constructed by Waste Management in 1994 and ownership was subsequently turned over to the county, although it was originally supposed to be a temporary structure, according to the plan.
The limited space on the tipping floor also requires double-handling of public waste. Residents dump trash in standard 8-yard Dumpsters, but those too have been dumped so the garbage can be prepared for shipment.
The existing transfer building will be reconditioned and paired with a new building where the public will place their trash on the tipping floor, eliminating the need for double-handling.
“We’re going to create some efficiencies,” Howard said.
The site’s household hazardous waste building, meanwhile, is dormant due to ventilation issues, which costs the county to have those materials processed by contractors. A new household waste building would be erected where the Dumpsters are currently located.
If adopted by the county, the annual household solid waste fee would increase from $115 to up to $185.
The county collected 26.3 tons of garbage in 2017 and 27.75 tons in 2018. Since the start of this year, the county has already collected 25.28 tons of trash, according to tallies kept by Bonner County Solid Waste.
Historically, residential fees from as low as $70 in 1992 to $140 in 1994 and 1995. Fees were $75 in the early 2000s, although they surpassed the $100 mark in 2006 and have largely stayed there ever since.
Howard said solid waste infrastructure has lagged as the county grows.
“This infrastructure has not grown with the population for many, many years,” he said.
The county’s capital improvement plan can be viewed on the solid waste section of the county’s website (bonnercountyid.gov).
Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.