Why did Keller send $4M in garbage fees to dump?

Since the summer of 2014, Albuquerque garbage customers have been paying around an extra $2 a month to help fund a proposed $39 million garbage transfer station at Edith and Comanche. The city-owned site is where the Solid Waste Department already houses its administrative services, truck terminal for solid waste and recycling vehicles, vehicle maintenance facility and neighborhood recycling drop-off bins.

That rate increase was sold to the public and the City Council as a way to reduce Solid Waste’s carbon footprint and save the city between $2.5 million and $4.5 million a year in fuel costs, as well as major wear and tear on garbage trucks, by eliminating the number of trips to haul trash out to the West Side landfill, which is about 20 miles from Downtown. The council approved it 8-0.

But last month, new Mayor Tim Keller sent around $4 million in customers’ rates to the dump instead.

The transfer station sparked loud protests from some area residents worried about traffic, noise and property values. In fact, there are no homes at that intersection or adjacent to the site. Yet Keller cancelled the transfer station, saying it was an example of top-down government. And he said the millions spent on planning and other costs related to the proposed Edith Transfer Station are “an investment that’s going to continue to provide a return.”

That’s a hard line of reasoning to follow, considering the city doesn’t own another site equipped with a Solid Waste presence, infrastructure and zoning nearly in place. Keller admits “there is no perfect site. It’s not like there’s a magical place where everyone wants any kind of solid waste activity. This a notoriously difficult issue for cities to deal with.”

And three-plus years and $4 million ago, we thought we had dealt with it — at an existing Solid Waste site.

While some area residents applauded the cancellation as “an early Christmas present,” the real question is why did far more Albuquerque residents pay millions in fees for years only to now see them used, at best, for something else and, at worst, for nothing at all. Meanwhile, they continue to pay millions for every city garbage truck to make the 20-plus mile trek to the landfill west of town — a trek that’s not going away anytime soon.