FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FORT
MYERS, Fla. (July 3, 2002) – The
Board of Lee County Commissioners will hold a public hearing Tuesday (July 9) to
adopt solid waste assessments and disposal rates for Fiscal Year 2002-03.
The hearing will be at 5 p.m.
in the Lee County Commission Chambers at the Old County Courthouse, 2120 Main
Street in downtown Fort Myers.
The county’s Solid Waste
Division is recommending a 3.8 percent average increase in residential garbage
rates – from an annual average of $195.72 to $203.11.
The primary reason for the increase is homeowners in the past year have
generated, on average, 15 percent more garbage – and have generated 29 percent
more garbage in the last two years, going from about a ton generated per
household to 1.28 tons. The
recycling rate per household has also increased 9 percent, but not to the extent
as the solid waste generation.
Existing and proposed (in
parentheses) rates in the county’s five franchise areas are as follows:
Area 1 Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Springs, Captiva $189.33 ($197.16)
Area 2 South of Fort Myers $190.40 ($197.52)
Area 3 East, Lehigh Acres $191.99 ($199.08)
Area 4 North Fort Myers $192.53 ($200.40)
Area 5 Pine Island $214.36 ($221.40)
Average $195.72 ($203.11)
Lee County currently is in
the permitting process of expanding its Waste-to-Energy Facility from a capacity
of 1,200 tons per day to 1,800 tons per day.
The facility was completed in August 1994 and disposes of the county’s
garbage by burning it and generating electricity from a steam driven turbine. The facility burns 395,000 tons of garbage a year and
generates up to 34 megawatts of electricity – or enough to power about 30,000
homes.
Since the Waste-to-Energy
Plant began operating, residential garbage rates in Lee County have declined
from $224 to $203 a year. Covanta
Lee Inc., formerly Ogden Martin Systems of Lee Inc., operates the facility
through a County contract. The
facility has been operating at its maximum capacity during the past three years.
County Solid Waste Director
Lindsey Sampson says the county will continue to emphasize residential recycling
as a way to contain future increases in disposal charges, including educational
and promotional programs to encourage recycling participation.
“We’re going to stress
the need to increase cardboard, magazines and miscellaneous paper (junk mail,
etc.) in the recycling stream because these materials are too often being placed
in the garbage,” said Sampson.