Contract losses at Landfill blow hole in Klickitat County Budget
Klickitat County Commissioner Jake Anderson
By Ken Park
White Salmon, Wash. Nov. 9, 2023 - Klickitat County is working to fill a million-dollar hole in its budget due to the sudden loss of three large contracts with Republic Services Roosevelt Landfill.
Commissioner Jake Anderson spoke about the budget issues at the White Salmon City Council Nov. 1 meeting.
Anderson said that the County had passed its 2024 budget months in advance. Still, that budget “blew up” following a contract loss at Republic Services, the county’s trash collection and landfill operator.
“We started our budget process with about a $2-million hole,” Anderson said. “ We were able to cut that down to just a million, and it’s that last million that gets tough, but we were able to pass a balanced budget. Then, right after our public hearings, we lost two more contracts, which amount to another million dollars.”
In a Nov. 3 email, Anderson said that the county had prior knowledge of Republic Services' loss of a contract with Skagit County, amounting to a $750,000 loss in revenue for Klickitat County, and was able to account for that loss in the budget.
Anderson said the county was notified on Oct. 13 of the additional contract losses with Spokane County and Mason County.
The Spokane County contract lost Klickitat County $690,000, while the Mason County contract lost the county $230,000.
When asked about the reasons for the contract losses, Steve Gilmore, media representative for Republic Services, attributed the losses to a competitive market.
Photo by Justin Ramsey
“We operate in a very competitive market, and while we’re disappointed to have not been awarded these contracts, we respect the bidding process and its outcome,” Gilmore said in a Nov. 8 email. “We look forward to continuing our partnerships with Klickitat County and extending our services to new customers at the Roosevelt Regional Landfill.”
White Salmon council member Jason Hartmann asked if the contract losses were a systemic issue for Republic Services.
“One thing I can say about moving trash is it usually comes down to efficiency because it costs a lot,” Anderson said.”When looking at the contracts that are going out for bids, usually putting it on a train is the most efficient way… but some bids are coming in exceedingly disparate from the initial bid openings.”
Since the sudden loss of these contracts, Klickitat County has made moves to fill the gaps in its budget created by the contract losses.
Roosevelt Landfill
“To bridge this $920,000 loss, we chose to use excess unanticipated funds we received last year from the landfill, about $423,000, unbudgeted local tribal consistency funds or roughly $346,00, and we removed $150,000 that was in the budget and set aside for parks within the county,” Anderson said.
Anderson also noted that the landfill itself, which has been a significant source of revenue for the county for over 30 years, is not growing at the right pace to keep up with inflation, which prompted the county to consider looking at other revenue sources.
“It's going to get exceedingly more difficult to pass a budget in the coming years,” Anderson said.”The landfill has been our savior and saving grace for the last 30 years…and has allowed us to provide services here that no other county gets to provide. As we get squeezed on that, services will become more difficult, or we’ll have to find alternative revenue sources.”
Despite the “squeeze,” Anderson said that the county does not anticipate a reduction in services currently being offered by the county.
The county finance department is working to assess the losses in revenue and has come up with a plan to asses necessary structural changes that will need to happen unless Republic Services can get more tonnage to the landfill or find a new revue source.
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