As expected, the most boring story in Hampton Roads keeps delivering idiocy. SPSA, the woefully mismanaged regional trash authority, has been bleeding red ink for as long as I can remember, and their bailout plan to feed it more money is gaining support.
The deal makes no sense at all. Norfolk City Council approved the plan unanimously (huh?), which hikes trash fees 42% and regional tipping fees 63%.
Other cities must approve the plan. Virginia Beach’s fees are frozen at current levels by agreement, but they must agree to temporarily (yeah, right) go without $28 million dollars of rebates.
So, the proposed solution to financial mismanagement is more money and less expenses? That’s one heck of an incentive. I wonder if I could get a deal like that! Let’s say I spend myself to the point of bankruptcy, and then Hampton Roads cities could boost my income and pay my living expenses, too. Whatta deal!
SPSA has been a mess for so long, I hesitate to even write about it. Every debate about SPSA is about the same. SPSA makes screwy decisions, fixing them costs money, and SPSA stays in financial trouble. It’s a wreck, and no one seems accountable, and no solution is a good one, and I’m so bored writing about it, I may just stream American Gladiators on YouTube for a while just to jolt myself back to more than a blank stare.
But why Norfolk unanimously approved this, and why Virginia Beach would believe that any rebate deferral is “temporary” is beyond me.
