The current rate at the landfill is now $35/ton, up from $20/ton. While the costs associated with running the landfill are on the rise, the City of Fallon is doing its best to keep the rates within or below the prevailing market.
City Chief of Staff Bob Erickson discussed the need for increasing fees. “Operating a landfill is a complex operation in that it's highly regulated and you have a certain amount of long-term capacity. If you have to close a landfill, you have to provide for the closure expenses plus long-term monitoring for years. It's a contingent liability – the revenue stops but the costs continue. The city used to have a landfill north of town plus some unmanned free-to-use landfills. The EPA landfill requirements changed over time, and though those landfills had to be closed, there are still contingent costs. When you give users a discount, you're not funding the contingency. During the 2007 - 2008 recession, we gave people a below-market landfill rate and didn't fund those contingencies. We increased the rates to basically just below market rate now, below Lockwood too.”
According to Erickson, the city's residential sanitation rates went up last year from $13 to $22 per month. “That was the first rate increase since 1986 or 87, and we don't foresee any other increases there.” While the rates at the newly reopened transfer station have gone up from $5 to $15 per load, the fee is still lower than other locales such as Fernley or Silver Springs. The landfill used by the large waste haulers now charges the same rate to all of them. “There is no volume discount. It used to be the more you dumped, the less you paid. Not anymore. The city sanitation trucks pay the same rates too.”
Mayor Ken Tedford felt the transfer station increase was fair saying, “We raised it to be comparable to surrounding areas.” When asked if city residents pay to dump there he replied, “Yes, everyone pays at the transfer station.”
City Public Works Director Brian Byrd also confirmed the new rates. “We reopened the Transfer Station on Monday, May 16. The new rate for dumping at the Transfer Station is $60/ton for municipal solid waste as well as construction and demolition. The new minimum charge per load will be $15.”
One of our readers wanted to know why such a steep percentage increase is being implemented, writing, “Our garbage bill from Fernandes Disposal will be going up 53%.”
Beyond the contingent costs, Erickson also pointed to other escalating costs. “Labor, fuel, and equipment costs have all gone up. A new Cat can go for $500,000 or $600,000 these days. Landfills are really tough on equipment, and their maintenance is expensive too.”
Erickson talked about past and future considerations. “The current Russell Pass landfill location is several hundred feet above the groundwater, and it was a huge but necessary capital investment. We could have gone with a contract waste hauler back then, but we would have always been subject to their processes and rate increases. Instead, the city and county decided it would be better to remain independent. At the current annual usage, we have a good 55 years of space there. But if usage steps up significantly, that will diminish the time. We have a request in with BLM as well to double our landfill footprint out there to plan for the future beyond current capacity.”
Tumbleweed Garbage Disposal's Mike Davis said a letter will be going out to his customers explaining the need to increase their service fees from $63 to $72 per quarter starting July 1 and they will continue to provide senior and military discounts. He won't be increasing the annual fee until January 1. “It's not fair to hit those that pay annually with a mid-year adjustment. We are only going to offset some fees with the increase. We don't pass on any fuel or labor cost increases. We just absorb those.” He also said that some options such as higher fees for out-of-town disposals, or commercial versus residential disposal rates were discussed with the city, but the city wanted to maintain a flat fee structure.
Diane Marcin of Walker Lake Disposal, a provider of roll-off containers and various sized dumpsters, said they dispose of their waste at both the Lockwood landfill and Fallon's Russell Pass landfill, and can't control the fees. “Our rates have gone up as our fuel and dump fees have gone up. We've also had to implement a $22 fuel surcharge.”
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