When a wave of environmentally stringent regulations crashed on the municipal-run landfill scene in the 1990s, most governments decided to close shop rather than invest to upgrade their facilities.

Auburn chose to stick with it. Officials closed down the unlined trash heap from the 1950s, and started anew a short distance away on the same property. The city also kicked off the state required recycling program.

More than a decade later, Auburn is one of two New York cities that operates a dump. The other is Albany.

At the urging of the Department of Environmental Conservation, Auburn in the early 1990s began installing a new state-of-the-art waste container, complete with a four-level liner and monitoring wells to avoid water and soil contamination.

City planners conceived of the current landfill as a three-part facility. But about two years ago, they found space to put a fourth cell on the north end, said Michael Long, director of capital projects and grants. If approved by the DEC, the $5.5 million expansion would add another cell on city property. City employees already are including the expansion in their budgeting process, Comptroller Lisa Green said.

For several years, paying for the environmental requirements took a bite out of the city's budget. And despite a recent shift into profitability at the landfill, a major question remains for Auburn after 30 years of operating a dump. Does the city make adequate money from it?

At first glance, the answer would seem to be “yes.”

The end of the last fiscal year, June 30, 2006, ushered in the first positive fund balance this decade, Green said.

“This year is the first the landfill's general fund is operating in the black for as long as I can remember,” she said, referring to the 2006-07 fiscal year.

The dump is operating more cost efficiently because it increased the volume it collected, but not the expenses. The facility is operating with a 96,000-ton limit, up from the previous volume of 76,000 tons for the past three years.

But some officials still think it could be performing better. Mayor Timothy Lattimore points to the decrease in the number of landfills after the DEC's push for environmentally responsible sites as a reason Auburn's should be doing better business. In the basic concept of supply and demand, the cost of using the Auburn space should rise, he said.

Some say having the massive Seneca Meadows landfill in neighboring Seneca County prevents Auburn from increasing prices. Lattimore looks at it a different way. All businesses want to get top dollar, he said.

However, city councilor David Dempsey said the key to operating the trash business successfully is balance.

The council needs to find the balance between the amount of money needed to fund the landfill and a price low enough to attract customers.

“Eight years ago, the landfill was hemorrhaging. We were charging $72 a ton, while Seneca Meadows was charging $30 or under,” Dempsey said. “People were just not coming to our landfill.”

The city still has to pay the cost of the new section, and put aside money for capping expenses for when it closes.

The fourth cell would have to take in commercial tonnage because officials used financing, not cash, to build it. Now, they have to pay back the borrowed funds and have enough to support the infrastructure and workers.

“We're just chasing our tail,” Lattimore said.

He believes methane gas collection is the way to ensure the landfill's profitable future.

“In this present market of getting $32 a ton (for garbage), methane gas could be our saving grace to staying in the landfill business,” Lattimore said.

Currently, pipes collect the fuel in two cells. If all goes off without a hitch, crews can install systems to collect methane gas from the new cell and feed it to the proposed biodigester and city facilities.

“I think the engineering firm that did the financial plan said (the expansion) was necessary. Of course, a key component to this is the methane gas,” Green said. “They've assumed that this will be all realized. If not, that may change the opinion.”

Besides the expected savings from not having to buy the fuel, the plan suggests an added revenue if excess gas can be sold to businesses, such as the industrial companies in nearby Technology Park, Green added.

Lattimore also suggested exploring using heat energy for projects such as hydroponics, or growing plants without soil.

City sanitation supervisor Michael Talbot has approached council to tap into another source of money for the landfill. He's asked unsuccessfully to adjust the user prices for people coming into the facility.

Besides trying to bump up the costs of the landfill decals and coupon books, he wants to tighten up the system so people can't take advantage.

For $4, a city resident can dump up to 200 pounds at a time. However, the regulations don't limit the number of times people can visit the facility.

“Some people, and I'm not exaggerating, make five or six visits to the dump,” Talbot said. “Really, we're the only ones who are paying.”

If someone comes five times per week and brings 160 pounds each time, that could be 42,000 pounds, or 21 tons. When factoring the city can charge $72 per ton, that's considerable air space for $4.

In October, Talbot suggested a series of price increases, on top of a 104-trip annual limit for residents and property owners. This amounts to two trips a week, which could be tracked with punch cards.

“If you pay for gasoline, you pay for every gallon you take. NYSEG charges for every kilowatt used. And yet the landfill is practically giving away air space,” Talbot said.

He also brought up the possibility of requiring commercial vehicles to purchase identifying stickers, but admits there would be disadvantages with that system.

The facility receives about 200 commercial haulers a year.

Some of these solid waste contracts are expiring soon. Talbot says this is good because city officials can plan the dump's fate. Also, the current manager may review these agreements for profitability.

Barton & Loguidice Engineers' recent environmental impact report predicted the current cell (cell three) will last two more years. However, shortly before the end of the first year, the obvious room will disappear, and crew will have to rearrange the unit's structure to find the extra space, Talbot said.

“We're getting tight on space,” Talbot said, regarding cell three.

The proposed fourth cell is estimated to last seven years at 96,000 tons a year. This figure could change dramatically with the amount of garbage the city would accept.

So what happens after seven years?

“That's a decision to be made,” Talbot said.

The city has many paths it can follow, from decreasing the amount of haulers to make the air space last longer, to locking the doors and getting out of the business all together.

One option is to handle only city residents' trash. If the tonnage taken in decreases to only 15,000 tons to 20,000 tons a year - about the amount city residents produce - it would last for decades longer.

However, this would cut down the revenue stream considerably.

Last year, the first year the landfill created a positive fund balance, the solid waste fund gave back $1 million to the general fund.

“Once you have that revenue, it's hard to give up,” Talbot said.

Dempsey would like to see the landfill bring in enough money to pay off its debt. The plan shows the landfill will get out of debt in four or five years. This will allow the city to decide what to do without being bound to making money.

Of course, the city doesn't have to have a dump at all, Talbot added. Lattimore said a less extreme option points to workers “mothballing” the dump temporarily while officials decide what to do.

“At some point in the future, we might be better to get out of the garbage business and send residential trash to Seneca Meadows,” Lattimore said.

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net