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Hernando Today

Uncertainty Still Looms Over Landfill

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By TONY MARRERO

Hernando Today

Published: March 11, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - The prospect for getting the permit soon to build a new section at the county landfill is brighter, but still far from certain, Utilities Director Joe Stapf told the county commission Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the board will soon have to decide whether to raise tipping fees and solid waste assessments to accommodate the cost of trucking trash to other places outside the county's borders, Stapf said during a workshop on the solid waste program.

There is still the possibility that the assessment on tax bills will have to double starting next year, to about $107. Commercial tipping fees could go from $54.50 to as high as $95.

The county has to make a decision on the assessment hikes by May to meet Florida law for the increases to take effect next year, Stapf said.

The county is awaiting the permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to build the new $15 million cell at the Northwest landfill facility on U.S. 98, north of Brooksville.
Stapf said he thinks that could happen "within the next couple of months." DEP requires the county to provide "reasonable assurance" that the cell's liner would hold if a sinkhole formed at the landfill site.
Stapf wrote in a memo that DEP's standards may be approaching "unreasonable" levels.

Still, Stapf said the signs are encouraging enough for the permit that he plans to bring recommendations before the board in the coming weeks.

"I think we're at a point where we can seriously consider some specific steps," he said.

One is to award a contract to Goodwin Brothers to excavate the site.

Soon after, a contract should come for a contractor to inject cement into two underground voids beneath the surface of drainage retention areas adjacent to the cell, Stapf said. DEP requires those areas to be filled to prevent sinkholes from forming.

The county must then get a permit to operate the new cell. DEP reviews the construction to ensure the project is built to specifications.

All of those steps will take at least until the fall of 2010, Stapf said. The landfill is reaching capacity so quickly the county will have to haul about 230 tons of trash out of the county each day for more than a year between now and then to keep the facility operating until the new cell opens, he said.
Stapf said one solution could be to take commercial trash to Pasco County's incinerator. That facility charges a $56 tipping fee. That would take care of about 140 tons of garbage each day, or about 35 percent of the total tonnage that comes into the landfill on a daily basis. It would require an interlocal agreement with Pasco.

The county still would have to truck away nearly 90 tons of residential garbage daily at a cost of about $4,500 per day, or nearly $1.4 million a year.

In the meantime, the county will have to renegotiate the soon-to-expire franchise agreements with trash haulers or solicit new bids.

Those companies have indicated they would likely try to find their own alternatives to dumping trash in the county's landfill if the tipping fees increase too much, Stapf said. One of their options is to take trash to a facility in Sumter County.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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