SPSA raises rates and fees for garbage disposal, recycling

Yes, I and a number of other board members did not believe that the initial conditions that Suffolk set for approval of the CUP for the landfill expansion were reasonable nor necessary. So we prevailed upon the staff to conduct a study of other alternatives. With that information in hand, a negotiation was conducted with Suffolk that resulted in an arrangement that will have much better long term beneficial effects for SPSA and Suffolk, and this agreement reduced the cost of the landfill expansion by a factor of about 30%. Of course, the region now faces almost exactly the same situation we faced at the time that eight participating jurisdictions chose to establish SPSA. As they say, it is deja vu all over again. By the time the municipal contracts run out in January of 2018, each municipality will have had to make arrangements for disposal of their municipal solid waste. Given the long lead time to build the capital intensive infrastructure, the members are looking at alternatives right now. Stay tuned.

Doesn't SPSA's charter expire in 2018? Is it's indebtedness going to be paid off at that time. Or shall we expect a "time bomb" of the debt, 250 million?, to be dropped back upon the muncipalities??

You have been about the only sane voice in a wildnerness of ignorance for quite some time. I hope that you'll be able to impact the other side of the coin as well, that being SPSA's need to cut costs. I'm not just saying this from a knee-jerk "all government entities are bloated" reaction. SPSA has made specific decisions in the past that are of the "Have you seen my brain anywhere?" variety. Even recently so as well. Surely there could have been a better deal negotiated to secure Suffolk's approval for landfill expansion. Suffolk doesn't need two additional transfer stations. The lay of the land doesn't call for such. Doesn't anybody get the age-old industry adage of, "The least number of times you touch the garbage, the better."

Well yes, I have shared significant concern since I was appointed to the SPSA board about past financial practices. As perhaps you know, I was on the short end of many 7-1 votes as I objected strenuously to the practice of borrowing long term to meet short term obligations, and for setting a municipal tip fee that met operational expenses but ignored the need to pay down debt on a schedule that recognized that it must all be paid off by 2017. I am pleased to report to you that the Board has now adopted new financial policies and procedures, and the past practices have been reformed, and of course, one of the effects of that change is that the Board has acknowledged the need to pay much higher municipal tip fees to ensure we meet our debt service requirements. I applaud fellow board members for taking these steps, and of course a few of them have paid for that action by losing their own seat on their local governing body. Sometimes, that is the price to pay for financial accountability.

The fact that the rate was exactly $100 tells me, in fact sort of shouts at me, that no one performed any sort of analysis at all. If the rate was $99.64, my question would be, "Hmmm, how did you come up with that rate?". The fact that it was $100 even means I need not bother to ask the question.

The $100 rate was trotted out for other purposes (forcing the flow control issue for one) and not because it was the financial number needed. The fact that this "pulled from the air for it's shock value" rate HAS NOW HAD A CPI TACKED TO IT is ludicrous. Mr. Barrett, you're about the only guy on the Board that fully understands how SPSA got into this mess. Your insight and intelligence are much needed to help police and control them. My chief concern is that the prior practices of SPSA that got us into the current situation are going to be allowed to continue. And, if so, I suppose the next, nice, even number that I'll hea

Well, let me get this straight, if we had voted to make the municipal tip fee $99.64, you would be more satisfied? Fact is, the budget is the best estimate we can assemble, but of course, this is not perfectly predictable. After all, you, the consumer, actually determines how much solid waste we will process. Recently, the amount of solid waste across every customer classese has been going down. Many reasons have been offered; the recession, retailers have reduced packaging, it has been dry so the waste weights less, the population is getting older and switching from beer to wine, and on and on. The municipal tip fee is the last fee set after the revenue from all our other programs is estimated as best we can. The fee has never been the same from year to year during the time I have served on the Authority, having gone up and down; this year, it will do both. That is, go up on July 1, go down on February 1. There is no conspiracy to make it a whole, round number.

Now let me get this straight. SPSA, which presumedly employs a few people who can cypher, performed careful analysis last year of future costs, future cash inflows, debt retirement, etc. etc. and determined a disposal rate to meet these obligations that, well by golly, came out to be exactly, smack dab on the nosey.....$100 a ton. What a nice, even, round number it turned out to be. Who would have thunk it? And now, after revisiting their meticulous review, tweaking it here and there, they've decided that they miscalculated slightly and a 4% increase is needed which is, wowy wow, what a coincidence, what the CPI index is currently running. And all the reps from each city on the SPSA board just nodded their heads and thought, "These SPSA folks must have really thought this one through. Is it time for lunch yet?"

Who said anything about the recycling program not being self sufficient? The program is priced for our customers to cover the cost of providing the program. If a city wishes to cut it out, all they need to do is inform SPSA to cut it out in their city and that will be done. However, remember that if a city cuts out recycling, then residents will put all their refuse out to be picked up and disposed of as municipal waste. So cutting out recycling has two effects; first, cities that do so will be violating state policy which encourages the maximun amount of possible recycling; second, the city's cost for disposing of municipal solid waste will go up as well. And lastly, the increase in the fee for both automated and curbside recycling went up about 5%, and given the increased cost for diesel fuel, that is a reasonable cost in the program.

SPSA Recycling department has a darn good track record , and in fact they are paying for themselves. How is this possible? Because of the residents of South Hampton Roads. Those that understand the reasons to recycle or reuse and reduce the waste we generate. We save the region thousands of dollars in future landfill cost every year, and we are proud of that fact.

Are we perfect - no. Can we improve -- yes!

It's up to all of us to do our little part ... Don't stop recycling when in reality, the cost to perform the service is minimal to each household.

All of us spend more money at our local fast food establishemnet for ONE meal, than it cost to pick up your recycling container each month.

Dean Arrington

then stop this foolishness. If the recycle program can't be self sufficient then cut out.

Ah yes, Reid once again gets caught with a lack of facts and a dirth of explanation, so once again he reverts to form; that is, he resorts to personal attack as a means to divert attention from the fact that he does not know what he is talking about. Of course, after he criticized SPSA for having debt, I asked him to indicate how he would have paid for the industrial capacity to build a waste to energy plant, a refuse derived fuel plant, a series of transfer stations to which the cities deliver their refuse, and a fleet of trucks to transfer the waste. Recall that at the time the cities voted to do this, only one actually had a landfill that met minimum standards, there were no private landfills in the area, and many of the cities were disposing of municipal waste in the old fashion way; that is, dumping it in the swamp. So eight participating jurisdictions agreed to create SPSA which leveraged these contracts, borrowed the money, built the facilities, and disposed of the waste efficiently. How would Reid have done this without incurring debt?

I thought this plant was built by the Navy back it the mid 80's and then operations contracted out to SPSA in 1989. After all at max operating capacity of 3 boilers feeding 2 generators you only get 40MW which covers a average load of 26-28MW that NNSY uses in the summer monthes if the yard has plenty of ships being worked on. Based on these facts I would tend to think the Navy footed the bill to supply steam and electricity to NNSY purchasing the fuel (class A combustable materials) from SPSA via an underground overground conveyor feed from the sorting facility across the street on Victory Blvd..

There you have it folks - Mike is so honest and truthful, right? Doesn't he make you believe him when he spins how a organization as badly run as SPSA is just wonderful? Debt? Naw .. just the cost of doing business doesn'cha, not to worry. Fee increases? Not to worry, just good management. Boy, we sure are lucky to have guys like Mike running our regional organizations, aren't we?

I do not have a blue container - requested it be removed upon delivery - but, yet, I still am charged monthly for this service. Just another way out local government rips us off!!!

You are lucky. Portsmouth Residents got the Recycling program taken from them a few years back, but still got stuck with paying the fee. I was the only one that complained, but nothing changed to our bills.

Well dabull, acting in a typical red neck fashion, having absolutely no clue about the facts of the situation, responds by attacking the person through a crude use of stereotyping and labelling. Fortunately, that is not new behavior, so at least all we can say it that he is consistent.

If the recycling rates rise in Norfolk, It will be the last time the truck stops at my home to empty a blue container. It will all fit in my trash can.

the lefty socialist never seen a fee, tax, levy, user feee he didn't like has spoken....

Well, let's try to take Mr. Greenmun's absurd assertions and deal with them with a presentation of the facts. First, the municipal tip fee and the cost for recycling in Virginia Beach will not be affected one bit by the action taken today by the SPSA Board of Directors. Our tip fee is capped, and we run our own recycling program. Second, I do not personally recall ever accusing taxpayer advocacy groups of wasteing tax funds. I have, however, suggested that the VBTA frequently acts against the interests of the citizens of Virginia Beach. And third, Greenmun says SPSA is "reeling in debt"; well, yes, SPSA built a waste to energy plant, a refuse derived fuel plant, a regional landfill, and a series of transfer stations and a fleet to pick up municipal waste to deliver to these facilities. Would he have paid cash? Would he have put the cities at risk by having them carry this debt on their balance sheet? The fact that the SPSA board increased fees by 4% so they could pay operating costs and debt service does not deserve an irrational rant from Greenmun or anyone else.

Well friends, you can thank Mike Barrett. He is appointed to represetn Virginia Beach's 4350,000 residents on SPSA. Yup, that is correct - the same pro-tax & spend Mike Barrett that graces these Pilot Online discussion forums. The same Mike Barrett that likes to point his fingers at the taxpayer advocacy organizations and accuse others of wasting tax funds. Yet, here is SPSA, a regional organization that Mike is supposed to be leading - reeling in debt and inflicting citizens with another fee increase.

My calculations come up with this.

$4.00 divided by 2000lbs (1 ton) = .002 cents per pound.
Based on my monthly trash 80-90 pounds my bill should increase 16-17 cents.

this cesspool is over 225 MILLION DOLLARS in debt and sponsoring a golf tournament with no doubt....public money. THE AGENCY NEEDS TO BE CLOSED AND RESPONSIBILITIES GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC SECTOR BY COMPETITIVE BID!
see SPSA dot com

Everyone get in line for raising rates/fees. Who'll it be tomorrow?