Panel advances bill cutting recycling discount

A bill that would repeal the discount given to companies that recycle materials and dispose of nonrecyclable residue at Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill or the HPOWER waste-to-energy plant moved out of the City Council’s Budget Committee Wednesday.

Council members said they want the savings gained from eliminating the discount to go toward restoring bus service that was axed by recent budget cuts.

City Budget Director Michael Hansen said the administration supports Bill 61.

The 35 percent discount, which is applied to the "tipping fee" charged per ton to the company delivering the waste material, was designed to provide an incentive for the commercial sector to recycle.

Deputy Environmental Services Director Manny Lanuevo said projections show the city could save more than $500,000 in the final six months of the current fiscal year if the law took effect on Jan. 1. That’s based on 27,500 tons a year, he said.

The bill now goes to the full Council for the second of three readings.

Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi and Councilman Stanley Chang, who co-introduced the bill, said they want to hear from smaller-scale recyclers about how eliminating the subsidy will affect their businesses.

In related action Wednesday, the Budget Committee advanced Resolution 267 urging the administration to put forth a supplemental budget that would restore bus routes that were eliminated or reduced during the summer due to budget constraints. The money would come from other programs.

Hansen said the administration thinks a supplemental budget request to do what the Council wants may be in violation of the City Charter.

What’s more, he said, "we had seen that TheBus operations were … on an unsustainable path, with costs increasing significantly year over year, and so we really had to take some steps … and make some hard choices."

Hansen noted that city Transportation Services Director Wayne Yoshioka has continued to work on tinkering with the bus schedule to meet the concerns raised by bus passengers, he said.

Hansen also pointed out that the city this year suspended a policy requiring bus fares to cover at least
27 percent of operating costs.

That requirement is expected to return next year and could trigger a fare increase, Hansen said.

No increase in fares could precipitate a need for higher property taxes to pay more of the subsidy, he said.