RethinkWaste Board Adopts 2011-12 Fiscal Year Budget

RethinkWaste, the agency that provides garbage and recycling services for cities in San Mateo County including Belmont, on Monday announced the adoption of its 2011-2012 fiscal year budget.

The budget, which shows lower operating costs and higher commodity revenues, are reportedly a "significant improvement" over the projected results of the 2010-2011 fiscal year's budget net income.

In 2010-2011, the agency made $270,000, but this year annual revenues total $40,132,600 and expenditures are $36,490,650, producing a net income of $3,641,950, according to the agency.

The agency credits its financial improvement with the following:

• 10.6 percent reduction in operating costs for the Shoreway Environmental Center with the new facility operator South Bay Recycling taking over on Jan. 1 from Allied Waste of San Mateo County.
• Completion of Shoreway master plan construction activities resulting in cessation of interim operations, notably the cost of paying a third-party recyclables processor for offsite shipment ended in April.
• 13.3 percent reduction in costs for agency staff and programs due to the elimination of one-time expenses related to the startup of new services in the 12 agency RethinkWaste service area (e.g., the public education outreach campaign for the rollout of the new collection services) and a slight reduction in the RethinkWaste staff.

“So far 2011 has been a year of significant milestones and progress at RethinkWaste with the rollout of new solid waste collection and single stream recycling services from Recology San Mateo County, resulting in a dramatic increase in recycling and a reduction in garbage going to the Ox Mountain Landfill,” said Brian Moura, Chair of the South Bayside Waste Management Authority Board of Directors and Assistant City Manager for San Carlos, in a statement.

“We congratulate the Staff at RethinkWaste, Recology San Mateo County and South Bay Recycling, and the residents of the RethinkWaste agencies for this achievement,” the statement continued.

“In a few months, the new Shoreway Environmental Center will be completed. I look forward to the long-awaited dedication of this facility and sharing what it can do in terms of delivering even better solid waste and recycling services to our residents and business customers,” he said.

The Board of Directors also recently voted to reduce tipping fees at the Shoreway facility for public customers bringing in trash and green waste.