Starr county's garbage worries facing hard choices

ROMA - Wide-open spaces have long been a Starr County trademark, but landfill area has suddenly become a jealously guarded commodity.

More than five months after it was expected to close, the nearly full Starr County landfill is still open, but its days are numbered.

And rural residents outside Roma are already hit with the consequences of the landfill shortage.

Monday evening, Roma city commissioners voted to close their municipal landfill to everyone but city residents.

"We're looking at the life expectancy of our landfill site," City Manager Crisanto Salinas said. "The city needs to look after the city first."

County Precinct 2 Commissioner Roy Peña even announced last week that beginning July 1, his employees would no longer pick up garbage from county residents around Roma for free.

"Pct. #2 can no longer afford to pay for this service," Peña announced in an advertisement in the Starr County Town Crier. "The local (Starr County) landfill is full and will have to be closed; all garbage will have to be transported to (a) Hidalgo County landfill."

Peña could not be reached for comment.

County Judge Eloy Vera said Precinct 2 will no longer be allowed to leave trash at the county landfill for free, significantly increasing the cost of collecting garbage."The time has come where everyone must pay their own way," Vera said.

‘Too much to handle'
A Peña predecessor began the free garbage collection program for residents of Salineño, Falcon Heights and other western Starr County communities 16 years ago.

"We were happy with it the way it was, but if it changes I guess it changes," said Berry Nall, a 20-year resident of Falcon Heights.

Before the county began picking up garbage, he said, he and his neighbors would deposit their trash at a Salineño site that turned out to be an illegal dump site.

The precinct stepped in to collect household garbage when the informal dump was shut down, Nall said.

But 16 years later, "the cost became just a little too much for (Peña) to handle," said Patricio Hernandez, the owner of Grande Garbage Collection, a Starr County company that until late last year handled waste management for Rio Grande City. Hernandez said he met with Peña several months ago to discuss other options for the area's more than 700 homes.

"He was (sacrificing) other things he could do - maybe paving the streets, or providing other services - because that part of the budget is tied up in trash collection," Hernandez said.

Those rural residents will likely pay about $15 a month for private collection from Grande Garbage or other local companies.

Illegal dumping?
Roma's move should head off those who might have considered cutting costs by dropping their garbage off at the city dump. The Roma landfill currently charges less than $5 for non-resident trash disposal.

But if traffic at the site increases, Salinas said, the lifespan of the Roma dump could be as short as three years - too little time to arrange permits to expand the site.

With just city trash, the municipal landfill should have seven or eight years left, Salinas said.

Vera said the commissioners are considering moving a warehouse at the landfill site to create a little bit more space, prolonging the life of the county dump for another nine months. He said final details of the project - including the cost and timeline - weren't available yet.

The county has worked in recent years to combat trash burning and dumping, establishing free collection stations for larger items like tires, mattresses and appliances.

"I would hate to see illegal dumping increase," Hernandez said Monday.

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Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472.