Marion County opposes bill giving local control over solid waste

When the Reworld garbage incinerator in Brooks shut down Dec. 31, Marion County didn’t just need to find a different place to send residents’ garbage.

It also lost a substantial source of income.

By keeping a portion of the tipping fees charged to haulers, as well as other revenues from the burner, the county made enough to fund around three dozen positions in its environmental service department and to sock away millions of dollars each year. The money has been used for projects unrelated to solid waste, such as repairing the badly built Courthouse Square complex.

County officials have said they are working to reopen the incinerator, or find someone to buy and operate it.

But a bill in the Legislature would free Salem and other Marion County cities from a state law — passed before the burner opened 38 years ago — that puts the county in charge of where haulers can take waste.

Backers say the legislation would reduce residents’ garbage bills and allow cities to take steps to reduce waste and meet their climate goals.

“Elected city leaders should have the opportunity to negotiate options, should they wish them,” Sen. Deb Patterson, D-Salem, who is sponsoring the bill, said during a legislative hearing on Senate Bill 1067 Wednesday.

“I’ve talked with several former and current mayors who are in support of leveling the playing field and helping residents,” Patterson said.

Marion County commissioners did not respond to the Statesman Journal’s interview requests.

At the hearing, Commissioner Kevin Cameron said more Oregon counties should be trying to control the flow of waste, to reduce costs and better manage it as a region.

“We believe this bill takes us in the opposite direction of where we should be going,” he said.

“Handling solid waste is a very complicated process that has many moving parts,” Cameron said. “SB 1067 impacts policy directed at one county that has the potential to impact many areas of the system.”

The 38-year-old municipal waste incinerator was built as a partnership between Marion County and New Jersey-based Reworld, previously called Covanta.

Marion County issued $56 million in revenue bonds to build the facility, which is owned by the company. The county repaid those bonds with revenue from franchise fees, tipping fees and electricity sales. It also paid the company a monthly fee to run the burner.

All the revenues and expenses connected with the incinerator went through the county’s environmental services fund, a special enterprise fund that doesn’t receive any general fund or tax dollars.

Back in 1985, as residents debated the incinerator deal, a county consultant acknowledged that tipping fees would rise to cover the bond payments, but promised they would drop back to the then-rate of $15 a ton or lower once the bonds were paid off.

But in 2009, as the final bond payment approached, commissioners balked at reducing the fees, saying the money might be needed instead for future investments in the county's solid waste system.

In fiscal 2010, the county transferred $7 million out of the environmental services fund to help repair the Courthouse Square building, and the next year commissioners passed an ordinance allowing some revenue from the incinerator to be directly deposited in other funds.

Over the next five years, some or all of the county’s electrical revenue — about $4 million per year — was put into the Courthouse Square repair fund, the Statesman Journal reported reported in 2020.

A new Statesman Journal analysis shows that the county has continued earning as much as $4 million per year from the incinerator, providing a financial cushion in the environmental services fund.

The county’s annual audit reports show that the reserve balance in its environmental services fund has nearly doubled over the past five years, from $16.8 million to $31.9 million.

Marion is the only county in the state with a law giving it control over waste disposal, although Oregon Metro manages garbage and recycling for the three-county Portland Metro area.

SB 1067 only applies to Marion County. It would allow, but not require, cities in the county to make their own decisions about solid waste management.

Cities would have to adopt an ordinance describing the authority it will take before exercising that authority.

The bill’s supporters said its passage would allow cities to better protect the health of its residents, and to meet their goals toward addressing climate change.

“The Covanta incinerator's emissions were dangerous to those in the vicinity and we in Salem were unable to do anything about it because control was vested in the County, which did not act,” Peter Bergel, a physician and activist, said in written testimony.

The city of Salem’s Climate Action Plan has 22 actions related to solid waste, the climate organization 350 Salem said in written testimony on the bill.

“Salem could better accomplish these actions with the passage of SB 1067,” the group wrote. “The climate crisis is real. Oregon should take every reasonable action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The City of Salem is best positioned to do this with the waste generated in the city.”

The bill is scheduled for a possible work session on April 7, when a committee will decide whether to send it to the full Senate for a vote.

Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips:[email protected] or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at@Tracy_Loew