It's Nobody's Fault, So Guess Who Will Pay?

The issue: Solid waste fees may double because of delays to expansion project at the county landfill.

Our opinion: Government ineptitude, bureaucratic red tape again to blame for taxpayers' latest woes.

It's nobody fault. Nobody is to blame.

That's the official line coming from state and county officials as to why it's going to cost property taxpayers and residents as much as double to dispose of their garbage in the coming year.

It's been nearly three years since the county started the permitting process to build a new 26-acre "cell" at the 366-acre landfill site on U.S. 98 north of Brooksville. Because the expansion project won't be done before the old cell is full, upwards of 200 tons of trash per day, six days per week over a 60-week period will have to be trucked to other landfills in nearby counties.

At an additional cost of $50 per ton, that equates to a $3.6 million tab that taxpayers are going to have to pick up. That's double - to $107 annually - the fee that homeowners will have to fork over when they pay their property taxes. The folks who pick up your trash curbside will also get nicked to the tune of nearly double for tipping fees - from $54.50 to as high as $95. Guess who's going to pay for that fee hike as well?

Add it altogether and it really stinks.

So why has it taken so long for the county to get a permit from the Department of Environmental Protection?

Neither county nor state officials are willing to point the finger.

It's nobody's fault, really, they contend. It just took longer than expected.

Now that's garbage.

It's called government ineptitude and bureaucratic red tape. If state and county officials aren't willing to admit who's at fault, we'll glady point out the responsible parties.

Both the county and DEP deserve blame.

Apparently, the county didn't start the process early enough, and DEP officials have been making the county repeatedly jump through a bunch of time-consuming hoops.

It's a dump for crying out loud.

Why is it so difficult and time consuming to get a permit to dump garbage in a place that's surrounded by other garbage?

DEP officials say they can't risk having the new cell accidently bust through the ground, forming a sink hole, and maybe leak into the aquifer.

"We're going to be the ones five years from now who, if something happens on a site, will be asked, 'Why did you give that permit?'" DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez said. "The department has one opportunity to get a permit right, and it is our job to make sure that a facility is going to be able to be constructed and operated within the rules and regulations of the state of Florida."

No matter how long it takes or how much it costs the taxpayers.

It's been three years. This is nonsense. If the county can't provide the necessary information and DEP can't decide in three years if this site is OK for a new landfill cell, we need better processes and/or better people to carry them out.

It's why just about everything government does takes 10 times as long and costs 10 times as much to accomplish.

We've got millions of tax dollars being wasted on delays for the Hernando Beach channel dredge project, the Department of Public Works cleanup in South Brooksville, the widening of Elgin Road and several other projects where work never seems to begin and the costs continue to escalate.

It's why taxpayers are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Now we've got a landfill that's a year behind schedule and is going to cost taxpayers millions more.

Good thing it's nobody's fault.

Since it's nobody's fault, it's our strong recommendation that the cost of these delays not be passed on to the taxpayers. They surely aren't to blame. The county has $34 million in carry-over funds in its general fund. Whenever county officials need $19 million for a new judicial center, $2.5 million for CPR or $500,000 for economic development or a million for this or a million for that, the money appears out of thin air.

County commissioners need to wave their magic wands once again and pay for this landfill fiasco out of the slush funds that property taxpayers have already so graciously provided.