The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
City leaders are looking into buying two transfer stations from the Southeastern Public Service Authority, which would give the trash agency a much-needed cash infusion and position Virginia Beach for a future without SPSA.
The purchase of the stations would help keep SPSA afloat through the end of the year and prevent disposal rates for other localities from ballooning, Beach officials said.
If SPSA dissolves, controlling the transfer stations would be to Virginia Beach's advantage, said Dave Hansen, deputy city manager. The Beach would need the stations to handle its own trash or use them to negotiate better disposal rates with a private contractor, he said.
The price of the stations is unclear because there are no recent appraisals, SPSA officials said. The Beach stations, near Oceana Naval Air Station and Tidewater Community College's campus, are assessed at $3.7 million.
Virginia Beach officials contacted SPSA on Wednesday to propose the idea.
"We'd take it into consideration," said Tom Kreidel, SPSA's spokesman. “The Beach is looking for ways to work with SPSA, and that’s good for all the communities.”
On Monday, city managers of SPSA’s eight member communities met to discuss the agency’s financial problems and its future. They are scheduled to meet again Saturday.
On Tuesday, Mike Barrett, Virginia Beach’s SPSA board member, told the City Council that the agency doesn’t have the money to survive past April.
Two companies want to buy SPSA's waste-to-energy plant for more than $200 million, which could help the agency reduce its debt. But SPSA officials need until the fall to complete the sale, said Mike Barrett, Virginia Beach's SPSA board member.
If there's an opportunity to give SPSA officials some "breathing room" until the plant can be sold, the Beach should consider them, said Vice Mayor Louis Jones.
SPSA had proposed increasing its household trash rates to $245 per ton of garbage from $104 per ton to make up for a budget shortfall and to pay its debts. Virginia Beach, which has its rates capped right now at $53.88, and Suffolk, which pays nothing because it hosts the regional landfill, would not be affected by the proposed increase.
The Beach’s costs were capped because it has its own landfill and allows SPSA to dispose of the ash and residue from the waste-to-energy plant there.Last month, Norfolk City Council members called on Virginia Beach and Suffolk to renegotiate their contracts with SPSA.
“The tipping fee is the last thing I would consider,” saidresponded Mayor Will Sessoms. The transfer stations, however, are useful to Virginia Beach’s future, he said.
Beach Councilman Bill DeSteph said he isn’t sold on the idea of doing business with SPSA because the agency has given cities inaccurate and incomplete information about its finances.
“We should look at all the options,” he said, “but we shouldn’t rush into a decision.”
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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Right Away
Well Peter, I was appointed eleven years ago and I knew before my appointment that the way SPSA was funded was unsustainable. I was appointed by the Beach City Council for that very reason. I spent the first five years or so losing most every vote on a 7-1 margin. Those representing other cities on the board just kept ignoring the Beach's admonishment that continued borrowing without a scheduled plan to pay it back would not work. Gradually, with my continued harrassment, and the expressed view by our independent accountant that SPSA risked not being a going concern, the tide started to turn. Finally, policies were changed, but regretfully, even though members knew the outcome, they still would not vote for higher tip fees necessary to sustain the organization. Today's imminent fiscal collapse is the inevitable result unless the members will agree to new arrangements.
future effect
Well Emily, either you really don't get it, or you really do and are just trying to relieve Chesapeake of its fiduciary responsibilities, which apparently to you means passing those costs off to someone else. For while you take up the familiar refrain first uttered by John Cosgrove that "we have 500 employees doing the work of 50", I challenge you and him to show up at a transfer station, drive a truck up the face of the landfill, pull the night shift at the waste to energy plant or the refuse dervied fuel plant, and then agree with the garbage uttered by John Cosgrove. But I guess you do agree with him, and you refute the fact that it has been Chesapeake's lawsuit to stick others with Chesapeake's bills that has among other reasons, contributed to SPSA's default. Of course, when SPSA goes down, Chesapeake will too, and your city will bear burden of having walked away from your obligations.
An unresponsive reply
Mr. Barrett's comments are nothing if not amusing. What isn't is his failure to respond to just one series of questions, now put more bluntly:
What did he know, and when did he know it?
And once he learned that SPSA had driven itself on the financial rocks
or was steadily steaming toward them - what did he do about it?
There's no question that whether by accident or design, Virginia Beach is perfectly situated - and doing more as every day passes - to weather the SPSA storm in better shape than any other community. But was Mr. Barrett appointed to safeguard the city's position or act in larger capacity to ensure the region's success?
If it was the former, it's worked like a charm. If it was the latter, others will surely judge, and likely sooner than 2018.
NO QUESTION
that I wish our representatives to SPSA (over many years) had been more obsessed with their responsibility. It is the pretty amazing to hear a board member say he hopes the managers can now solve the problems that the board created over the years.
What can you say to those of us that have, in good faith, paid that bill every month? Can you say you did all you could one day a month to cut costs and work together to find a solution that didn't entail higher bills to homeowners? We're hurting but who cares about us?
SPSA selling VA BEach the transfer stations would be a huge
mistake. What little money they now pay in their capped tip fee would disappear. If they have the means to centrally locate their collection points for their city vehicles they could the effectively secede from their agreements with SPSA and handle all of their own waste disposal. Good for Va Beach but bad for the region. Mike Barret's response that his city made the best deal that would favor it is 100% correct but in that statement he also tells the story as to why things will never truly be regionalized in this area. The politicians of the area only serve their constituency and the h**l with the rest.
Unreal
Government should stay far away from the private sector. Time and time again governments (local, state, and federal) have shown an inability to run a business without taxpayer help. Would this be any different?
Contact your City Council members directly and let them know how you feel. Here are the VB City Council members' email addresses:
wsessoms@VBgov.com
lrjones@VBgov.com
hediezel@VBgov.com
bdyer@VBgov.com
juhrin@VBgov.com
gdavis@vbgov.com
bhenley@VBgov.com
bdesteph@VBgov.com
rvillanu@VBgov.com
rcwilson@VBgov.com
jlwood@VBgov.com
Well Gee Whiz, Mike
I think it's pretty funny that here we have Mr. Barrett lamenting the possible fiscal collapse of SPSA-and unless I'm mistaken, this is the very same Mr. Barrett who is one of the Board members of this agency-doesn't this make you partially responsible for this problem?
I wonder what would happen if you ran the Runnymead Corp in the same way SPSA was run?
I have two questions for you:
1) How is it even possible to run a business that is a monopoly into financial ruin?
2) Where's the Blight?
Comedy of errors
Yes, now that the members have essentially conspired to put SPSA out of business, the final act will be treated as a tragedy instead of the comedy of errors it really represents. At this point, the agency will be out of cash and out of fiscal options in early April, and with all the folks in Chesapeake dancing around the grave, the celebration has begun. So other arrangements must be made to avoid disruption; that is, how to daily transport the tons of solid waste that each city collects, to disposal sites located much farther away than the transfer stations and the regional landfill or the RDF/WTE plant. Also, commercial generators of solid waste ought to immediatly discuss with their private haulers what arrangements they have made for disposal; picking up the waste is one thing, but make sure you find out where it will go. I for one hope the city managers, working on behalf of their jurisdictions, can make new arrangements, but the time to do so has just about run out.
Drunk on public money
The board threw money around like drunk sailors on liberty for years until audits started catching up with them. They blame everyone but themselves. Have another drink on the taxpayers Mr Barrett. You'll soon be buying you own drinks as your scam unfold and voters dismantle this white elephant.
Would you look at that
Santa Maria! Where in the Sam Hill are the roofing and siding panels of the building in that photo? Was there a February hurricane that went unreported, or has SPSA's $400,000'year Facilites Maintenance Department gone to the islands for the winter?
Seriously folks, the beach needs to buy up these transfer stations before SPSA sells its assets to a private intity. Otherwise, it'll have fewer negotiating powers when it goes to the bargaining table to secure disposal drop sites with the private sector. You see, even if/when a private company buys SPSA, affected individual cities/counties, including VaBeach, will be required under law to comply with the Government Procurement Act which would necessitate the solicitation of bids from independent private waste companies to dispose of its waste.
For what it's worth, SPSA purchased the Oceana transfer station for $1.00.
I hope the beach is aware of the condition of these facilities. The former six-figure salary heads of SPSA left its infrastructure in serious disrepair and I'll bet you can't find a single board member that's ever toured SPSA facilties more than possibly once.