I was on the SPSA Board in its early years. The Board fully expected, at that time, that all of the waste in the area would be disposed in SPSA’s facilities.

There was a great deal of money invested in creating a world-class, regional waste disposal system on behalf of the residents and businesses within the area.

The board oversaw the building of a system that allows the reuse of a large portion of the area’s trash as fuel for the Navy’s Power Plant.

And trash that could not be burned at the Power Plant could be disposed safely in SPSA’s start-of-the-art Regional Landfill.

Everything changed in the early 1990’s, however, when the United States Supreme Court took away the power from localities to implement flow control. The Court opened the door for large out-of-state waste management companies to build mega-landfills in rural Virginia. These facilities cause the importation of out-of-state trash and, even worse for SPSA, could cherry-pick from among SPSA’s best customers — area businesses.

Homeowners and SPSA’s member communities were left bearing the brunt of paying off the debt and the cost of operating this system through 2018.

These costs inevitably resulted in higher real estate taxes. With the surprising change at the U.S. Supreme Court in April this year, SPSA’s member communities now have the opportunity to consider adoption of flow control and restore the basis for creating SPSA.

And I think it’s a good idea.

Flow control will allow SPSA’s member communities to complete their contractual obligations to SPSA through 2018.

It will allow reasonable, fair waste disposal costs for all and puts less pressure on raising real estate taxes for homeowners and businesses.

Under flow control residents and businesses would pay an equal and reasonable cost for the disposal portion of their trash bill.

Additionally, adoption of a flow control offers many other benefits:

– Eliminates price inequities against homeowners and area residents and creates fairness in rates

– Provides transparency in solid waste disposal billing for businesses

– Causes the discontinuation of imported out-of-state trash

– Levels the playing field for competition for trash hauling

Finally, the large out-of-state private hauling companies are now disseminating mis-information to try to scare local municipalities into not considering flow control. I urge the citizenry not to buy into the tactics. Get all the facts on the full impact of flow control. In order to do this, SPSA recently issued a survey to area private waste haulers for general cost information; private haulers are the best sources for accurate information on the impact of flow control on businesses. (None have responded at this time.) Moreover, SPSA is asking area businesses for copies of their trash disposal bills as one more way to conduct an analysis on the impact of flow control on area businesses. Please contact SPSA at (757) 420-4700 if you’re interested in participating in the survey.

In conclusion, SPSA has instituted major reforms and has made significant budget cuts over the last fiscal year.

I know that SPSA is committed to continued operation of its activities in a transparent, accessible, and open manner.

Do not fall into the trap of accepting the scare tactics from the private haulers who are only trying to maintain their competitive advantage.

Get all the facts on flow control first.

Andrew Damiani is an area businessman, a former Mayor of the City of Suffolk, a former Chairman of the SPSA Board of Directors, and is now a

member of the new SPSA Business Advisory Council.