Raleigh City Council Could Vote On Proposed Landfill In Holly Springs

Wake County officials estimated it would cost $224 million less over 25 years to put the proposed South Wake Landfill in Holly Springs, than to ship trash to another county once the North Wake Landfill, in Raleigh, closes in 2007.

"Our numbers are hard and fast," said Rick Rowe, a representative of Wake County Environmental Services. "They've been evaluated, re-evaluated."

But after evaluating those numbers again, Holly Springs officials fighting the landfill still disagree. They said it would actually be $3 million cheaper over 25 years to haul trash out of the county, and blame the $227 million discrepancy on the way the county prepared its analysis.

"We all base our analysis on a certain set of assumptions," said Holly Springs town attorney John Schifano. "Our assumptions are just different from Wake County and frankly we think our assumptions are more accurate."

Town officials say the county is not looking at the overall picture: they are not figuring in the cost of the government's solid waste program, including recycling centers and education initiatives; and are not including the cost of hauling trash to the landfill or to a transfer site to bring it to the proposed landfill.

"The request was to separate out the collection cost and the disposal cost and that's what's been done," Rowe said.

County officials admit it would be up to each town to add the cost of hauling the trash to Holly Springs.

Holly Springs leaders also said a second developer has offered $20 million for the site of the proposed landfill. The last offer was $17 million.