The chairman of the Rio Arriba County commission has proposed ending door-to-door trash collection for rural areas of the County, while the other two commissioners said they want the service to continue, at least for the time being.
Commissioner Alfredo Montoya, chairman of the commission, suggested ending door-to-door garbage collection at a May 16 workshop with the North Central Solid Waste Authority.
Montoya said other New Mexico counties do not offer door-to-door collection in their outlying areas. He said ending the service in outlying areas of Rio Arriba County would greatly reduce the Authority’s ongoing operational deficits.
“No other county does door-to-door like we do,” Montoya said.
“The way I see it, we just keep throwing money into a bottomless pit.”
Montoya said the Authority was intended to be a self-supporting venture when it was formed in October 2004.
“But it’s not,” Montoya said, adding he did not foresee the Authority ever breaking even as long as door-to-door waste collection is offered.
Montoya credited the management of Gino Romero, manager of the Authority, for reducing the agency’s annual deficits.
The Authority, which is subsidized by the County and the city of Española, is projected to have about a $190,000 deficit at the end of the 2012-13 fiscal year.
Montoya also lauded Romero for initiating an audit of the County Road 1 area, around Hernandez, in October.
Romero said the audit of 544 homes in the area revealed only 311 homes had solid waste accounts, or about 57 percent, although every habitable home in Rio Arriba County is required by County ordinance to have an account with the Authority.
“People that are paying are frustrated with people that aren’t paying,” Romero said.
The Authority on April 29 discontinued loose bag pick-up services for County Road 1 and all adjoining private drives in the area north of Fairview Drive and east of U.S. Highway 84/285.
Romero said the route used to take Authority workers about 3 hours to complete and now takes about 45 minutes since trash collection in the area has been automated.
He said the Authority is working to improve efficiency, control costs and curb illegal dumping by automating its services.
Romero said automated trash pick-up utilizing polycarts saves time, helps control costs by making trash collection more affordable and helps keep the environment cleaner by eliminating bagged garbage left on the ground.
While Montoya credited Romero for the audit of the Hernandez area, he said it accounted for about one-fifteenth of the County’s outlying homes and that it would take 15 years to complete a County-wide trash audit.
“At some point, we need to make some good decisions that will help us to help you,” Montoya said to Romero. “I’ll offer my community, in Alcalde. I’ll take the heat.”
Commissioner Barney Trujillo said he favored continuing door-to-door collections.
“I’m a strong believer in the door-to-door pick-up in the more populated areas of the County,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo said illegal dumping still occurs in areas of the County that have solid waste collection centers, such as Canjilon, Cordova, El Prado, Española, Ojo Caliente and Tierra Amarilla.
The Alcalde collection center is temporarily closed for the anticipated construction of a waste transfer station at the site.
Areas with collection centers also have door-to-door trash collection.
“The presence of a collection center is merely an added perk,” Romero said.
“While collection centers provide a central location for recycling patrons, they have a hard time accommodating large loads brought in by customers.”
The Authority has agreements in place to provide door-to-door trash collection in Española and Chama.
“This set-up of going door to door was even here before you were on the commission,” Trujillo said to Montoya, who was first elected a commissioner in 1992. “I don’t think it’s a mistake.”
Trujillo said trash pick-up is a special service appreciated by County residents, particularly the elderly.
“I believe we’re doing a good thing and I think we can make it better,” he said. “We’ve already invested a lot into going door to door.”
Montoya said neighboring counties that lack door-to-door collection have less trash along roadways.
“They don’t spend as much money as we do and they have a much cleaner county,” Montoya said.
He said factoring County and city of Española subsidies, it costs the Authority about $50 a month per residential solid waste account.
“I don’t think that’s reasonable,” Montoya said. “It’s a discussion that needs to continue.”
Commissioner Danny Garcia, who represents the vast majority of the County and numerous rural communities, is the apparent swing vote on door-to-door collection.
Garcia didn’t express his views during the work session, but said afterwards he leans toward maintaining door-to-door trash service.
“We have a trash problem in our County and we need to find a solution to it,” Garcia said. “It’s controversial. I agree with Commissioner Trujillo that people have gotten accustomed to the door-to-door. A lot of my constituents like it.”
The discussion about continuing door-to-door collection is more than theoretical, as the Authority is seeking up to $4.2 million of funding for new equipment and a waste transfer station at Alcalde.
The Authority’s trucks are designed for picking up trash from polycart containers used in door-to-door collections.
“At this point, every piece of equipment that North Central has needs to be replaced,” Romero said.
Romero said if door-to-door collection is rescinded in rural areas of the County it would dramatically change the Authority, and also reduce its liability insurance rates since employees would no longer physically handle trash bags.
“It would be a huge change,” Romero said. “Collection centers are the wave of the future.”
Romero said collection centers that charge based on the amount of trash disposed also encourage recycling.
“There has to be some kind of incentive for these folks,” he said. “People (aren’t putting) coffee grinds in the garden.”