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A proposal to charge Fairfax County property owners a new waste-disposal fee is struggling to gain support from county supervisors, who warn that residents may strongly oppose the idea.

“I don’t think we’re ready. It’s kind of a hard sell,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said during the board’s Environment Committee meeting on May 12.

County staff presented the charge as a “sustainability fee.” Under the proposal, a typical homeowner would pay about $60 in fiscal year 2028, which begins July 1, 2027. Because the fee would be tied to property value, the projected average would climb to roughly $90 annually by 2032.

The charge would initially raise nearly $25 million. That money would help cover the county’s solid-waste disposal costs and reduce the tipping fees paid by commercial haulers delivering trash to county facilities.

Supervisors, however, see significant political risk. The proposal follows a largely abandoned county effort to place all single-family homes into one trash collection district, a plan that generated substantial public opposition.

McKay predicted the new fee would receive just as much pushback.

“Now is not the right time,” he said.

Braddock District Supervisor Rachna Sizemore Heizer expressed similar concerns, saying she feared the proposal would “go down the same path” as the sanitary district plan.

Waste subsidy is about to expire

The county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services has spent the past decade using $50 million to subsidize tipping fees. Fairfax received that money after relinquishing its partial ownership of the I-95 waste-to-energy plant in Lorton, which was previously owned by Covanta.

The funding is expected to run out next year.

“We have to make a decision” about what comes next, said Eric Forbes, the department’s deputy director for solid waste management.

Staff outlined several possible spending reductions. Even with those cuts, the county is projected to need more than $6 million in annual operating subsidies, likely from its general fund.

Supervisors asked staff to return to the Environment Committee in July with additional information.

“This is a pretty big decision. Let’s take a little bit of a step back,” said Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, the committee’s chair.

The July discussion is expected to include a comparison of Fairfax County’s disposal costs with those in neighboring jurisdictions.

“We’re going to actually have to take a look at how we do this,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said. “I’m not sure we can continue to afford the cost structure.”

Higher dumping fees could drive haulers elsewhere

Commercial haulers are generally required to dispose of Fairfax County trash at county facilities, but officials said some companies appear to avoid that requirement because other options cost less.

DPWES Director Christopher Herrington warned that raising tipping fees enough to cover future costs could encourage more haulers to take waste elsewhere.

“We are already more expensive” than surrounding jurisdictions, Herrington said. He added that requiring haulers to use county facilities while sharply increasing their fees could invite legal challenges.

Commercial haulers currently pay about $90 per ton to dispose of material in Fairfax. Without changes, that rate is projected to reach $98 next year, approximately $120 in 2029 and $150 by 2032.

Staff estimated that the proposed property fee could reduce the tipping rate to $80 per ton by 2032.

Lower disposal charges could theoretically allow collection companies to cut residential customers’ bills. Several supervisors questioned whether haulers would actually pass those savings along.

McKay assured public works officials that supervisors understood the department’s financial problem and would find a solution, but he said further discussion was necessary.

“I have a lot more questions than I have answers to,” he said.

More than 650,000 tons of solid waste move through the county’s system each year before reaching the I-95 Energy/Resource Recovery Facility, now owned by Reworld. The plant burns the waste to generate energy.