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HomeNewsArchivesEnvironmental User-Fee Hearings Draw Strong Reactions, Small Turnout

Environmental User-Fee Hearings Draw Strong Reactions, Small Turnout

Oct. 31, 2007 — Stepping up to the plate Tuesday at the V.I. Waste Management Authority user-fee hearings before a Public Services Commission hearing examiner, Carlo Castoro expressed his dissatisfaction with the fee schedule while offering alternative suggestions.
It was the first of a two-day St. Thomas public hearing on the environmental user fees. Though the public was invited, only Castoro and Tom Brunt, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, showed.
Castoro, who works at the Independent Boatyard and manages its wastewater facility, said he had just heard about the fees Tuesday morning, and had raced to the PSC's Barbel Plaza office to make himself heard, clad in T-shirt and jeans.
"That's why I'm dressed like this," he said.
The public shouldn't be 'hit over the head with a stick — put a carrot on the end of that stick," Castoro said.
People should be given an incentive to be responsible for their own waste, he said.
"We should recycle that waste," he said. "Almost everything can be recycled or composted. As for shipping it off island, why not contact the container-shipping companies? Those ships bring cargo in and leave empty. How about using them?"
Castoro cited one entry in the extensive fee list.
"Diamond dust," he said. "Give me a break. Nobody has a problem with taking care of waste responsibly, but we want to make sure that money is spent responsibly."
Castoro said he would return Wednesday with other members of the public.
Brunt, speaking as a private citizen, said he would have to create a new position "just to take care of the paperwork." He owns MSI Building Supplies.
Cornwall said she was aware that the public would complain about the fees, but "it has to be done" for the system to function, she said, and for the authority, ultimately, to be self-sustaining, which she anticipates will take about 10 years. The per-pound fee is not a flat rate; it varies on the category of goods, based on what it will cost to dispose of them.
The authority is operating on a $49.1 million fiscal year 2008 budget, including federal funds, grants and $28 million from the General Fund, said Deandra Atwell, WMA's chief financial officer.
Of that total, $16.4 million goes to solid-waste expenses, $14 million for wastewater expenses and the remainder for personnel and administrative expenses. These include salaries for the executive director, legal department, planning, human resources, engineering, information technology and operating expenses, Cornwall said. She makes $110,00 annually.
There's a lot to accomplish to get the system in place for what Cornwall hopes it to be in January — or at least "in the first quarter." The WMA will collect the fees working with U.S. Customs. It needs to set up positions at V.I. ports, including Crown Bay on St. Thomas, Enighed Pond on St. John and Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix. There are 11 people to be hired and trained to process the fee collections.
A memorandum of understanding with U.S. Customs has not yet been completed, Cornwall said.
Luggage weighing more than 500 pounds will also be taxed, though WMA representatives said the authority has not yet set up a system with the Cyril E. King Airport to assess and collect the fee.
Retailers will naturally pass the additional cost on to purchasers or face financial disaster, Brunt noted.
"How would anyone propose a system that will drive business out of the territory?" he asked.
Implementation
During the second round of public hearings on Wednesday, the authority's consultants — hired to help put together the rate proposal — delved deeper into some of the issues surrounding the implementation of the environmental user fee, and how it could help push WMA toward self-sufficiency.
During the first three years of implementation, the authority would continue to receive contributions from the General Fund to offset its operational costs, explained Michael Burton, president of Burton and Associates. During the fourth year, however, WMA is expected to be self-sufficient on the solid-waste side, using the environmental user fee as its primary revenue source, he added.
Looking over the proposed rate schedule, PSC attorney Boyd Sprehn questioned whether some products — such as batteries and certain types of electronic equipment — should be taxed, since they might not end up in the territory's landfills.
"A great number of the materials that come under these rate codes go into the landfill," Burton said. "Only a very small amount does not."
Sprehn, along with others participating in Wednesday's hearing, also questioned whether there could be some kind of rebate system associated with the program, giving residents the opportunity to recycle some of their goods and earn credits against the fee.
WMA is currently looking into the feasibility of setting up such a program, Burton said. He added, however, that in order for the program to work, mechanisms have to be established to check whether imported goods coming into the territory are actually being reused or recycled and sent off island.
Only one local resident — community activist Jason Budsan — turned out for Wednesday's hearing. Keeping his remarks brief, Budsan commended the authority for its efforts to become self-sufficient, but requested that a public-education campaign, which would highlight the fees' impact on residents, be launched.
"The environmental user fee in particular is broad-based and will affect all Virgin Islanders and all products coming into the territory, from wrapped goods to building materials that generally have a longer shelf life," he said. "So I hope that the public can be educated about the impacts, and make an effort to get out there and find out more information about what the fees actually apply to. I also hope that the enforcement of all our environmental laws will truly be taken into account here, since it seems that every person is going to be fined, from those we reuse and recycle their products to those who dump garbage on the side of the road."
For a list of the user fee rates proposed by the WMA, see below.
Wastewater User Fee
Rather than dealing with a broad range of taxes placed on a variety of products, the wastewater user fee is structured a bit differently, appearing as a single recurring charge on resident's property-tax bills.
"Right now, property-tax bills have a sewer tax on it," said Andrew Burnham, vice president of Burton and Associates. "With the proposed wastewater fee structure in place, that tax is going to total $110.97 for fiscal year 2008, and increase 15 percent each year after, as requested by the authority in its application."
After the hearing, Burnham explained that the charge would be applied per resident, or equivalent residential unit (ERU) — a basis of calculation that would allow the authority to determine how much demand a particular customer places on the system.
"However, the problem we've had up to this point is that we haven't been able to gather the kind of information that would tell us what each specific property is," Burnham added during the hearing. "So, going forward, the authority is also going to have to identify each property type and come up with a criteria that would determine how the fees would be added up and the number of ERUs each piece of property represents."
Such an analysis should be completed by April 2009, Burnham said.
The proposed fee structure also cuts out exemptions currently given to certain establishments, such as churches and non-profit agencies. Still, residents and businesses that are not tied into the system — particularly those with cisterns — will not be taxed, he said.
Because of these limitations, operational expenses on the wastewater side would still need to be covered by appropriations from the General
Fund, Burnham said.
"This would probably be necessary for a period of more than 10 years," he explained, adding that the authority's wastewater operations add up to about $22.4 million for FY 2008. "And with $19.9 million of that amount coming from the General Fund, the wastewater user fee would have to generate about $2.5 million during the first year of implementation."
With about 60 percent of the territory's residents, businesses and government agencies tied into the public wastewater system, General Fund contributions to authority for wastewater operations total approximately $12 million annually over the next four years, Burnham said. He added that the user fee would jump another four percent if General Fund contributions were to be cut out completely.
"The median income in the Virgin Islands is about $19,000," he explained. "If you were to take a 3,000-gallon-a-month customer and calculate their water and sewer bill, the tax would represent about 4.7 percent of their median income. If we go into full recovery mode, that figure would jump to more than 8 percent."
Still, the extra $110 charge strikes a good balance between what consumers can afford to pay and what the authority needs to reduce its reliance on the General Fund, Burnham said, adding that most utilities on the mainland pay about $35 a month.
Public hearings will continue on St. Croix on Friday, beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Port Authority conference room in the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport.
The environmental user fee rate schedule by product code and charges per pound:
01 Meat and Poultry $0.0709
02 Dairy and Eggs $0.0748
03 Fruits and Frozen Juices $0.0744
04 Vegetables $0.0776
05 Nuts $0.0707
06 Bakery Products $0.0707
07 Other foods: seasoning, pasta, soup, cereal, etc. $0.0720
071 Other foods: non-alcoholic drinks $0.0597
08 Wine and related products $0.0802
09 Fish and Shellfish $0.0724
10 Alcoholic beverages excluding wine $0.0775
11 Aircraft $0.0000
12 Parts for aircraft and other transportation $0.1210
13 Apparel and footwear $0.1210
14 Household textile goods $0.1210
15 Pharmaceutical preparations $0.0886
16 Automotive vehicles $0.1091
17 Automotive vehicle parts $0.1210
18 Computers, computer accessories and parts $0.1210
19 Electronic components $0.1210
20 Telecommunications equipment $0.1210
21 Business machines and equipment $0.1210
22 Office furniture $0.1210
23 Glass and clay products, semi-finished and finished $0.1210
231 Glass and clay products, raw materials $0.0264
24 Non-metallic mineral products $0.0737
25 Construction materials $0.0087
26 Construction paints and varnishes $0.0211
27 Construction products $0.0684
271 Window Blinds $0.1210
28 Prefabricated buildings $0.0159
29 Crude petroleum products $0.0000
30 Electrical machinery and apparatus $0.1107
31 Fuel and fuel products $0.0004
311 Lubricating and gear oils $0.0245
32 Heavy equipment $0.1210
33 Other machinery and equipment $0.1210
34 Parts for equipment and machinery; tools $0.1210
35 Tanks, barrels and drums $0.1210
36 Instruments $0.1210
37 Medical equipment $0.1210
38 Precious metals, jewelry, watches and coins $0.0540
39 Artwork and antiques $0.0811
40 Nursery stock (plants, trees, shrubs) $0.0092
41 Metal slag, residues and scrap $0.0030
42 Primary metals $0.0089
421 Primary metals — powdered $0.0030
43 Metal construction materials $0.0087
44 Metal construction products $0.0211
441 Metal construction products: windows, doors, metal plumbing fixtures $0.0684
442 Metal construction products: prefabricated buildings $0.0159
45 Fabricated metal products: plumbing and hardware $0.0700
451 Fabricated metal products: chain and metal fencing $0.0942
452 Fabricated metal products: ladders, signs, miscellaneous products $0.1210
46 Miscellaneous agricultural products $0.0104
47 Newsprint and other paper $0.1210
48 Books $0.1210
49 Printed matter excluding books $0.1210
50 Toiletries, cosmetics, soap and other personal items — consumable $0.0539
501 Toiletries — synthetic detergents and surface-active preparations $0.0504
502 Toiletries — first aid $0.0857
503 Toiletries — candles and contraceptives $0.0680
504 Toiletries — personal care items $0.1140
505 Toiletries — non-consumable $0.1210
51 Tobacco $0.0619
52 Writing and art supplies $0.1210
53 Household Goods $0.1210
54 Household appliances $0.1210
55 Carpets and rugs $0.1210
56 Medical and dental appliances — implanted $0.1044
561 Medical and dental appliances — external fitted $0.1210
562 Medical and dental appliances — external $0.1123
57 Furniture and furnishings $0.1210
58 Off-highway tires and other rubber products $0.1210
59 Non-metallic minerals — industrial diamonds and dust $0.1263
591 Non-metallic minerals $0.0737
60 Magnetic tapes and other media $0.1210
61 Miscellaneous industrial supplies $0.1210
611 Miscellaneous industrial supplies — x-ray and other film and plates $0.0942
612 Raw materials not classified elsewhere $0.0673
62 Miscellaneous industrial supplies — plastic packaging $0.1210
63 Wood packaging $0.1210
64 Textiles and leather, excluding clothes and furniture $0.1210
641 Textile and leather — wall coverings $0.1059
642 Textile and leather — wicks and mantles $0.0907
65 Motorcycles and bicycles $0.1126
66 Parts for motorcycles and bicycles $0.1210
67 Trailers $0.0364
68 Toys, games, sporting goods $0.1210
681 Toys, games, sporting goods — firearms and binoculars $0.0765
682 Toys, games, sporting goods — cameras excluding digital and cinematography $0.0976
69 Musical instruments $0.0742
70 Entertainment electronic goods $0.1210
71 Vessels $0.0149
72 Parts for vessels $0.1210
73 Agricultural chemicals $0.0132
74 Industrial gases $0.0132
75 Plastics and chemicals — solid $0.1210
751 Plastics and chemicals — additives and adhesives $0.0132
752 Plastics and chemicals — semi-solid $0.0671
753 Plastics and chemicals — solvents and volatiles $0.0240
80 Direct solid waste (discharged from cruise ships, airlines, etc.) $0.1210
1000 Non-specific (anything not covered by an existing rate code) $0.0137
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