City makes right move sending trash out of county

In light of the country raising its fees for the dumping of trash at county landfills, the Porterville City Council took the appropriate action to send its trash elsewhere and use a private hauler to do the hauling.

This week the council voted to amend its contract with Pena’s Disposal Service to include the transfer, processing or disposal of all city solid and green waste. That includes no longer taking the trash to the county’s landfills. The agreement does not change how residential service is handled.

Because the county raised its fees and decided to close the Teapot Dome Landfill site three days a week, thus forcing the city to haul trash on those days to the Woodville Landfill on Road 152 north of Avenue 192, city officials said they had no other recourse but to take the action. Officials estimated the action will save the city $3 million over the next six years. We expect that savings to mean city residents will not see significant rate hikes to cover what had been the expected extra costs.

The county raised its rates when it learned the county’s solid waste department had not been properly managed and it was now operating at a deficit. Ironically, it is the efforts of residents to send more trash to recycling that has caused the deficit because less trash is going to the landfills.

The fee hike by the county alone would have cost the city an additional $100,000 a year, not to mention extra costs for hauling the trash 17 miles further three days a week.
We are also pleased to see the city contract with a private company for the hauling rather than add to the city’s refuse department which undoubtedly would not have been as cost-effective. We would encourage the city to explore as many private sector ideas as possible over the next few years to see what other savings can be realized.