Strategic planning for municipal enterprises.

• Author: Brooks, Kathie

In the early 1990s, the Miami-Dade Department of Solid Waste Management (DSWM) faced an immediate financial crisis: 1) increasing regulation and a prioritization of environmental programs resulted in higher fees charged by the department for the disposal of waste; and 2) shortly thereafter, regional competitors in the solid waste industry rapidly gained market share at the expense of the department. Because the department is fully funded by user charges, this loss immediately translated into a revenue shortfall. Unable to increase fees, which would only result in the loss of additional market share, the department had to examine unique approaches to solving the situation. The department developed a strategic plan, which required a major overhaul of all the business approaches used to manage solid waste in Miami-Dade County.

Background

The county's Department of Solid Waste Management has been providing its citizens with waste management services for approximately 50 years. It collects waste from more than 260,000 residential accounts, primarily in the unincorporated service area. In addition, it disposes of approximately 2.3 million tons annually within the department's disposal system, which consists of one resources recovery facility and associated ash monofill, two landfills, and three regional transfer stations.

The department operates as an enterprise fund of Miami-Dade County. As such, the DSWM funds the vast majority of its operations, capital improvements, debt service obligations, landfill closures and post-closure care of closed landfills, and other expenses through rates and charges collected directly from those residents and businesses that receive services (collection and/or disposal) provided by the department. For many years, when the county was operating without significant competition in the disposal environment, this was not only an adequate arrangement, but also an equitable one. Most county residents and businesses paid a share of all costs that benefited all of the county through the tipping fees paid for disposal of waste. In addition, these fees underwrote ancillary services, such as illegal dumping prevention and clean-up, code enforcement, various recycling programs, community clean-ups, household chemical collection programs, educational efforts, and clean-up, closure and post closure care costs for old landfills which had been used by all county residents.

The solid waste environment in Miami-Dade County had changed dramatically in the post-war era. Fueled by increasing state and federal regulation, the solid waste industry in southern Florida has become centralized. In the 1950s and into the 1960s, as many as 25 landfills were being operated by a variety of private and public entities in Miami-Dade County. By the early 1970s, federal, state, and local solid waste disposal regulations changed significantly, forcing many of these facilities to close and requiring their users to look elsewhere for disposal options. In 1974, the state then mandated the county to organize solid waste disposal functions under one entity. Accordingly, the county developed a countywide solid waste disposal program.

Regulatory Environment Impacts

Many of the environmental legislative initiatives of the 1970s had a significant impact on the configuration and financial condition of the DSWM. These include the following state statutes:

* 1974 Resource Recovery & Management Act: (and 1979 amendment),

* required county to provide for waste disposal service to the jurisdiction; and

* required Florida's 20 largest counties to develop countywide waste disposal plans to include resource recovery programs

* 1985 Growth Management Act

* required local governments to provide adequacy of waste disposal capacity as a prerequisite to development.

* 1988 Solid Waste Management Act (and 1993 amendment)

* imposed responsibility for environmentally safe disposal of all waste generated on the county;

* established 30 percent countywide recycling goal as county responsibility; and

* increased regulations for the closure and 30-year post-closure care of landfills.

As a result of these various regulations, county government took on increasing management responsibilities and financial obligations over time. The department developed into a provider of a full range of waste management services for the entire county of more than 2 million residents. In addition to collection and disposal, today's DSWM provides code enforcement, illegal dumping prevention and clean-up, a variety of recycling programs, household hazardous waste collection, and other services to the community.

The New Realities of the 1990s

Federal and state intervention led to the implementation of additional county...