LIHUE — Businesses owners may soon be paying more to dump or haul their waste into County of Kauai landfills.
That’s if the Kauai County Council chooses one of two options before it to raise the landfill tipping fee.
It is a possibility that concerns Garden Isle Disposal, Inc. President Scott Kouchi, who sent a letter to customers two weeks ago, informing them of possible price hikes.
“Garden Isle Disposal, Inc. has made numerous calls and met with many council members and the administration, asking that the increase be minimal or stretched over a period of two or three years,” the March 18 letter read. “If the budget is approved, Garden Isle Disposal, Inc. will increase our prices accordingly.”
Kouchi said he understands the need to raise the county’s tipping fee and keep county landfill operations sustainable.
But the timing and method of the fee increases, he said, is not apropos.
“There has been a lot of increases in the tipping fee to catch them up to where they can run the landfill, but unfortunately, it’s at a bad time when the economy is not good and businesses have to absorb these costs,” Kouchi said. “I understand that they need to balance the budget or run the landfill, but … it’s just unfortunate that they subsidized it somehow for so long and now this current administration has to be the one to implement the cost to get it up to running standards.”
In all, $2.8 million in solid waste tipping fees were collected during the 2012 fiscal year, according to county financial reports. Around $3.5 million was collected last year.
A proposal to rise landfill tipping fees, according to county documents, was first pitched by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. to the County Council in 2012.
It was a call that Carvalho renewed this year after the seven-member board declined to raise nonresidential solid waste tipping fees from $90 to $129 per ton before the start of this year’s budget session.
That bill, Bill 2515, was introduced by Councilman Tim Bynum in December and was last deferred by the County Council on March 12.
If passed, the bill would become effective upon final approval.
It is now scheduled to be heard by the governing body for final reading during its April 23 public meeting.
“This rate has not been adjusted since 2009,” Carvalho wrote in his budget message for the 2015 fiscal year. “In addition to generating additional revenues of roughly $1 million to offset the deficit in the solid waste fund, this increase will also incentivize private haulers to divert additional material from the Kekaha landfill.”
A new measure proposed by Carvalho’s administration, Bill 2542, is seeking to raise solid waste tipping fees for commercial deliveries at county landfills, refuse transfer stations and debris recycling stations with vehicle scales from $90 to $119 per ton.
If it is approved, the increase would take effect July 1.
The proposal passed by a 5-1 vote on first reading during the County Council’s March 27 public meeting. Councilman Ross Kagawa cast the lone dissenting vote.
Councilman Mel Rapozo was not present and did not vote on the measure.
A public hearing on the administration’s proposed bill will be held on April 23 in the Council Chambers of the Historic County Building in Lihue.
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @darinmoriki.
