Fairbanks borough seeks $2.6 million for two landfill compactors after transmission failure

One of the two main trash compactors at the Fairbanks North Star Borough landfill has a failed transmission, and Mayor Grier Hopkins wants to replace it rather than fix it. He is asking the Assembly for $2,632,000 to buy two new compactors: one for the broken machine and one for the other main compactor, which is also near the end of its working life.

The compactors are central to daily work at the landfill, which runs two main machines and one backup. Its state operating and air permits require it to process trash and handle asbestos every day.

Fixing the transmission would cost about $100,000. But Public Works Director David Bredlie wrote that the broken machine has already been rebuilt twice and is close to the 10,000 hours of use at which the borough replaces compactors. The other main compactor will pass that mark before new machines could arrive. Bredlie wrote that the Caterpillar dealer, NC Machinery, does not recommend a third rebuild, and that it is "no longer cost-effective to rebuild rather than buy new."

A rebuild would cost $1.2 million and come with a three-year, 5,000-hour warranty. A new compactor costs about $1.32 million with a five-year, 10,000-hour warranty. In 2022, the Assembly chose the other route, approving $1 million to rebuild a compactor of the same model for a second time and citing savings over buying new.

The money would come from the landfill's own fund, which is paid for mainly by disposal fees. This year's budget for that fund is about $16.6 million, with $15.7 million expected from disposal fees, so the two compactors would cost about a sixth of a year's spending.

On paper, the fund's unrestricted balance is negative. The ordinance says that figure includes the long-term cost of eventually closing the landfill and monitoring it afterward, which accounting rules require the borough to count. It says the borough decides which landfill projects it can afford using a 20-year cash flow projection instead. Chief Financial Officer Joanne K. Pascoe certified that the money is available.

The Assembly Finance Committee is scheduled to take up the ordinance Oct. 1 at 5:30 pm. Public comment at that meeting is limited to contract and bid awards.