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Trash Hauling Issues May Get Court Date

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By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2007

TAMPA - A vote nearly two weeks ago on changes to a trash hauling ordinance didn't resolve the issue for Hillsborough County commissioners.

Instead, the decision virtually ensured commissioners will be dealing for months to come with issues stemming from a 1996 exclusive contract with three waste hauling firms.

In recent months, commissioners grudgingly have approved trash fee increases but rejected revisions to the 11-year-old ordinance that a judge ruled was too weak to prevent smaller firms from hauling residential construction debris.

County officials are waiting for Waste Management, Waste Services Inc. and Republic Services - the franchise firms - to respond to the Nov. 7 vote, which the three haulers say threatens their contract.

Many commissioners and county officials think the issue likely will end up in court.

Hillsborough's contract with the three firms has become somewhat of a quagmire for county commissioners. It delivers what they want: low residential pickup rates, which until recently hadn't been increased for 10 years.

But it has bound commissioners' hands in other ways.

A contract extension approved by county commissioners last year all but guarantees 3 percent residential fee increases every year through 2012.

The increases are needed to honor agreements made last year with trash haulers and bondholders who footed the bill for improvements to the county's trash disposal system, including expanding a waste-to-energy plant.

Part of the agreements called for the annual increases.

Reservations Expressed About Increase

Commissioners approved this year's increase, which set residential pickup rates at $193.20 annually. The vote was 6-0, but at least three commissioners expressed reservations before approving the increase.

Commissioner Brian Blair said at the time he was being forced to do something he didn't want to.

He had similar heartburn about the ordinance revisions. He cast the deciding vote to reject the changes, but indicated the next day that he might change his vote.

Blair said Friday that he wouldn't change his vote but said he still had problems with the way both issues had been brought to commissioners.

"I sometimes feel like staff's driving the train," he said.

Commissioner Rose Ferlita said the ordinance change was a hard issue for commissioners to decide.

She blamed county officials for problems with the contract and the ordinance.

"There's nobody I fault more than the county," Ferlita said. "The language in the ordinance was pitiful."

County Administrator Pat Bean said staff presented a contract and ordinance that was consistent with what commissioners wanted at the time: no increased trash fees.

"I think overall it's pretty good," she said, noting that staff last year fixed some problems with the original contract.

Bean, like many commissioners, said she expects more debate.

"We can't just leave it as it is right now," she said. "We have to come to some kind of closure at some point."

An appeals court may settle the issue of whether independent trash companies may haul residential construction debris, which the county considers commercial waste.

If the court decides in the county's favor, several independent trash hauling firms who specialize in residential construction debris could be out of business in Hillsborough.

Resolution May Take Months

The Nov. 7 meeting on the ordinance revisions presented Blair and Ferlita - both former small business owners - with a quandary. Both Republicans, would they cast a vote that could result in higher fees for residential trash pickup? Or would they support a change that could force several small businesses to close up shop.

Both decided to reject the revisions recommended by staffers.

"It was a bad deal," Ferlita said. "We were put in the middle of it."

Not all county commissioners feel that way. Commissioner Jim Norman said the changes should have been approved. He predicted further problems for the board.

"A rate increase is definitely coming," he said.

In urging commissioners to approve the changes to the ordinance, Norman warned that any disruption in service could be disastrous. He recalled previous years when phone calls flooded the county center after trash pickups weren't made.

The contract approved last year added in performance incentives, and complaints have dropped sharply. "The haulers' performance is outstanding," he said.

Ferlita said she didn't expect widespread interruption in services, even if the current trash agreement needs to be renegotiated.

Norman said he expects the franchise firms to seek tighter restrictions against the independent hauling companies. Those companies don't have to abide by the same restrictions as the franchise haulers, Norman said.

Norman agreed that it will likely take months to resolve all the issues with the contract. But he said it needs to be fixed.

"This is a bad thing - both financial to the homeowner and, in my opinion, public safety."

Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib .com.

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