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Siskiyou County – Solid Waste Management Plan & Rate Adjustment Plan

Siskiyou County

R3 was engaged by Siskiyou County (County) Department of Solid Waste (Department) to assist with an Evaluation of the County’s existing solid waste system and the development of a Solid Waste Management Plan (Plan) in support of determining future disposal and recycling contracting methods that increase efficiencies and reduce costs.

R3’s objectives for this engagement involved conducting the following primary three tasks:

  • Formulating a specific strategy to extend the County’s existing contracts, and/or to conduct the competitive procurement of the County’s operation services;
  • Conducting a rate comparison and creating a Rate Model to develop a 10-year Rate Adjustment Plan that supports the long-term financial strength of the County’s Sanitation Enterprise Fund; and
  • Reviewing and providing actionable recommendations to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the County’s current collection, transfer and disposal systems.

Specifically, R3 reviewed and compared the County’s Transfer Station gate rate to those in similar rural counties, and providing a comparison of the County’s solid waste parcel fee to solid waste parcel fees in other counties in the State (Calaveras, El Dorado, Glenn, Kern, Modoc, Mono, Sierra and Trinity Counties).

R3 assessed the County’s overall solid waste management system to support the identification and realization of opportunities to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the Sanitation Enterprise Fund. R3 conducted a SWOT analysis to identify internal Strengths and Weaknesses, and external Opportunities and Threats to the County’s solid waste management system. To accomplish this, R3 worked with County staff on site, touring its facilities and observing its operations in order to comprehensively review the efficiency and effectiveness of the current collection, transfer and disposal systems, and develop meaningful recommendations for improvement.

To support the ongoing management of the Department’s finances, R3 also developed a recommended 10-year Rate Adjustment Plan to enable the County to maintain a positive annual net cash flow for the Sanitation Enterprise Fund, retire its current $6 million debt within a targeted time frame, and fund a new transfer station in Yreka. To do this, R3 created a simple Excel-based Rate Model which can be used to model various gate rate and/or parcel fee adjustments.

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