"Popular programs such as free recycling, hazardous waste amnesty days and recycling sorting services are on the chopping block as the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority finds itself $400,000 in the red for the upcoming fiscal year.

Thomas L. Frederick Jr., the authority’s executive director, said Monday that eliminating some of the programs for Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents would prove “unpopular.” Other options are also being considered.

One of those would be to establish a minimum fee that haulers pay when they drop off trash at the Materials Utilization Center. As the Ivy landfill no longer accepts trash, the garbage is transported to a dump in Amelia County.

Frederick said that option also has ramifications.

“One concern that solid waste officials sometimes have is that people may resort to illegal dumping” with an increase in fees, Frederick said. The authority is considering other financing options as well, and will look to adopt its budget June 25.

Rivanna has seen revenues decrease for the last five years, as the City Council and Albemarle Board of Supervisors have been unable to reach an agreement about how much each should pay for the authority’s operational costs. The council has put its portion of the fees - which pay for maintaining the Ivy landfill and other costs - aside until an agreement is reached. The fees, which have been accumulating since 2001, total about $2 million.

“What we’re saying is, ‘We’re not going to be the only ones underwriting the landfill,’” Charlottesville Councilor Kevin Lynch said.

But Robert W. Tucker Jr., the county executive and a member of the solid waste board, said Albemarle is already paying its share.

“This has nothing to do with the county,” Tucker said. “This is a fee that is between the city and Rivanna.”

John Martin, an Albemarle resident who pays close attention to water and sewer issues, told the Rivanna board Monday that the issue must be resolved and that the board should consider hiring legal counsel to get the funds from the city. The city has maintained that it is ready and willing to release the service fees once an agreement is struck.

“Having services like these is part of the reason this community is the way it is,” Martin said. “Nothing is getting done to solve this problem.”

Michael Gaffney, the chairman of the Rivanna board, said he hopes an agreement can be reached soon. Until then, any and all options, such as suing the city for the fees and cutting programs, will remain on the table.

“For our community, we have to resolve this so we can move forward with the solid waste authority,” Gaffney said." (Jeremy Borden, The Daily Progress, May 22, 2007)