Butte County supervisors hear latest landfill update
OROVILLE — The Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility was front and center Tuesday as it inched closer to a long-term master plan with proposed rate increases.
Butte County Public Works Director Joshua Pack gave a presentation Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors in Oroville where he laid out the proposed master plan for the facility as well as some ins and outs of its functionality and history. While the master plan hasn’t officially been adopted, supervisors gave head nods to bring it back at an upcoming meeting fully formed.
Once it is approved and put into place, the plan would mean rate increases over time with the first year going up by 23% to $51.80 and the second, again going up by 23%, rising to $63.71. From then on, rates would be increased yearly based on the consumer price index.
As it stands, the landfill has an expiration date.
“Based on the current use of the landfill and its existing airspace, it has a current life expectancy of about 30 more years, which is pretty uncommon compared to our peer counties,” Pack said.
The 200-acre facility does have room to grow, however. In recent years, the county has purchased three large swaths of land surrounding the landfill to the north, the northwest and the southwest. In total, there are 250 acres it can expand into which translates into about 11 million cubic yards of landfill capacity while keeping buffers to nearby land uses.
For operations, no money is used from the county’s general fund. It instead relies on tipping fees, franchise fees, gasto-energy proceeds and grant funding. The tipping rate hasn’t been increased since 2015 and yet Butte County remains the lowest at $42.11 per ton when compared to counties of similar size with the next lowest being Lake County at $70.51 and the highest being El Dorado County at $109.88.
“Most of the counties in our region have significantly raised their rates in the past two or three years,” Pack said. “Our rates were last updated in 2015. They were part of a three-year approval by the board in 2012.”
Revenue at the landfill has also seen dramatic variations over the years such as the one-time revenue generated in response to the Camp Fire, which Pack said ultimately kept rates down since.
In the short term, unfunded state mandates such as Senate Bill 1383 have created an urgency for additional revenue as processes that once were overseen by outside facilities will now fall back on the Neal Road facility. Pack said new costs linked to organic materials, compost importing and the edible food recovery program are expected to add more than $4.5 million in added expenses.
“At this point, with these new numbers in mind, which we did not have in October and we’ve run through our draft budget working closely with admin on this, we anticipate exhausting our remaining fund balance sometime in the 25.26 fiscal year,” Pack said. “So out of all of the recommendations today and whatever direction the board goes, we are strongly recommending near-term rate increase considerations at the landfill.”
Built in 1965, the landfill began life as a burn dump until 1970 when it was converted into a sanitary landfill, which it remains today. The county took over operations that same year and continued until it became private in 1978. In 2004, the county took it on once again and has maintained it since.
In other business, the board authorized yearly pay increases for Behavioral Health Director Scott Kennelly and Public Health Director Danette York. Kennelly’s salary will go up to $169,990 for the first pay period before increasing to $176,790 after Feb. 11, 2025. York’s will increase to $177,373 directly following the approval.