OROVILLE — Butte County’s landfill, the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility, now has a number of new projects slated for its future with the hope that its life will be extended.
The Butte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a long-term master plan for the facility on Tuesday that addresses both upcoming projects and unfunded state mandates.
It’s been 12 years since the last strategic plan for the facility was approved by the board and there have been significant events such as the Camp Fire since then that have gravely impacted the landfill. Public Works Direct Joshua Pack said, based on the current plan, that the fund balance for the facility would be depleted by mid-2026.
Projects include an expansion to the landfill itself, which there is room for thanks to previous approvals by the board to purchase surrounding land, a new access road with additional scale houses, an administration building and other improvements that would ultimately lead to saving money around expansions.
Pack noted that approval of the plan doesn’t mean overnight changes to the facility.
“There’s a series of projects that we’re looking at to try and extend the landfill’s useful life and make it easier to access for customers and make it safer to access,” Pack said. “And there’s a series of improvements that we can do to do that. Also, a major goal is to try and get more material that finds its way into the landfill out. And by being able to do that smartly, efficiently, we can extend the useful life of the landfill and delay future improvements down the road which really saves money and keeps our rates low.”
Along with the newly adopted master plan, Pack recommended a fee schedule increase related to landfill services. During his presentation, Pack noted that Butte County had the lowest tipping fee of many similar counties within California at only $42.11 per ton. The next lowest was Lake County at $70.51.
Pack initially proposed a 46% increase over two years in order to keep up with the projects aligned with the master plan, ultimately putting the fee at $63.71 in the fiscal year 2025-2026.
“We’ve heard loud and clear that people want to keep rates reasonable,” Pack said, adding that rates have not been increased for nine years.
However, Supervisor Peter Durfee voiced opposition to the schedule for the increase saying that it was too short of a time span.
“I understand we are below everyone else, I just think 46% over two years is a dramatic increase,” Durfee said.
Durfee also confirmed with Pack that this would apply to waste hauling companies which would likely pass the increase onto customers to bridge the financial gap.
After some discussion, the board opted to amend the resolution to break the increase up into 15.5% increments over three years rather than 23% increases each year over two years. The amendment was unanimously approved.
In the original fee change brought before the board, concrete dumping was given full fees rather than being free as previously done so long as the concrete was clean and did not contain rebar. Both Pack and Deputy Public Works Director Craig Cissell said that the concrete was reused by the department. Supervisor Dough Teeter said he wasn’t comfortable with increasing a fee for something that was recycled and used by the county. As part of the amendment approved by the board, the clean concrete fees were dropped.
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“So if you have that material and you’re bringing it in, we’ll take that for you free of charge,” Pack said after the presentation. “We’re also keeping the current rate for wood debris. For things like that we’re keeping it at the current rate of $42.11 a ton to make it a little bit more attractive for people who are trying to remove that stuff. Although we do have a free program for residential community members to bring that material already. It’s about four or five days a month we have free green waste days where folks can bring that stuff in.”
What didn’t change was a stipulation that increases could continue beyond the initial increases based on inflation adjustments. Supervisor and chair Tod Kimmelshue said he hoped the stipulation would help avoid similar bulk increases down the line.
“Hopefully with the inflationary item in there we will not be back in the same spot in 10 years,” Kimmelshue said.
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