From Jan. 13 to Jan. 21, Kootenai County transfer stations took in more than 1,900 tons of wood debris.

But wait, there's more: About 1,550 tons are still waiting to be processed, officials said.

A typical week at the Ramsey Transfer Station sees about 180 tons of waste, and the Prairie Transfer Station reports about 80 tons, Kootenai County Solid Waste Planner Laureen Chaffin said. In the week following the Jan. 13 windstorm, incoming wood debris jumped to 1,550 at Ramsey and 330 at Prairie. 

“We estimated a total cost to the department of $139,000,” Chaffin told the Board of County Commissioners on Monday. “We also have approximately $4,000 in staff time costs, directing traffic management, waste processing, and things like that directly related to the storm itself.”

To combat the backup at the Ramsey facility, Chaffin said the city of Coeur d’Alene had to divert some 1,550 tons of wood debris to the old mill site on Seltice Way. 

“They were bringing in dump trucks worth of wood,” Chaffin said. “In fact, in just one day, they brought in over 109 tons of wood.”

Despite the transfer stations’ contractor, Cannon Hill Industries Inc., arriving only two days after the storm on Jan. 15 to grind the debris into chips, more work needs to be done.

“That first grind they finished on Jan. 21 was over 1,500 tons of wood, and that pile has since grown,” Chaffin said. “The city (of Coeur d’Alene’s) lot hasn’t been ground yet, and it is probably sitting at about 1,550 tons also.”

As part of Kootenai County’s Disaster Declaration that went into effect on Jan. 13, the Solid Waste Department’s storm-related costs were submitted to the state for possible reimbursement. 

While the storm brought in a dramatic swarm of customers and waste, the Kootenai County transfer stations have seen increasing demand for years. During a quarterly update with commissioners, Chaffin and Solid Waste Director John Phillips laid out the department's financial strategy for the upcoming fiscal year. 

“You’ll see that the way we’re sitting right now, the department would be in the negative with operations funds,” Chaffin said. “If we did nothing but build all the things we need to do, the Solid Waste Department would have to make a change in our fee structure somewhere along the way to get to 2042.”

That year was expected to see the county's landfill reaching capacity. However, the department’s analysis in 2018 proved the facility is filling up faster than budgeted. 

“We have a bag of garbage, and as we’re putting garbage in, we are getting toward the top (of the bag),” Chaffin said.

Before 2018, the department prepared for a 3% growth rate, but new data showed the landfill jumped to 4% three years ago. Now, solid waste is planning for 5% annual increases — meaning the bag will be full by 2037. 

“This year, the increase to the landfill was 10% growth,” Chaffin said. “Over 200,000 tons went into the landfill in 2020. That is remarkable given the lockdown and everything going on.”

The highest daily customer count at the Ramsey Transfer Station in 2020 was 2,450 cars, Chaffin and Phillips said, following the Nov. 1 storm. Still, the average number of day-to-day patrons was around 2,000, equivalent to what the facility was seeing before the department opened the Prairie Transfer Station.  

“No one is going to stop coming to the Ramsey Station. That’s very obvious. So we are going to need to do something,” Chaffin said. “The transfer station doesn’t fail based on the number of tons … where the Ramsey Station is starting to fail, and always has been, the pinch point for any transfer station is the number of customers that come in.”

Part of the solution is advertising and shifting customers to the Prairie facility, but officials say raising fees is a possibility. There has been no specific public discussion on potential fee increases, however.