Dump fee questioned

PROVO — A 4th District judge Friday upheld the Schools and Institutional Trust Lands Administration's right to enforce the terms of its rental agreement with Provo for the Bayview Landfill.

But Judge Darold McDade questioned SITLA's proposed rental increase from $18,990 to $150,000 per year.

"The court finds there is a disputed issue of material fact concerning the reasonableness of the (690) percent increase SITLA seeks to impose," McDade wrote in his ruling.

Thomas Mitchell, attorney for SITLA, said he's pleased the judge agreed with "90 percent" of the agency's argument but was concerned McDade disputed its heavy rent increase.

"We believe that was what was supported by the evidence as the only dollar figure ... on the best and highest use of the land," he said.

Robert Keller, attorney for Provo, did not return requests for comment Friday night or inquiries about whether the city plans to appeal the court's decision.

In 1984, Provo entered into a long-term lease with SITLA to rent 680 acres of vacant land, located six miles north of Elberta along state Route 68, to operate a landfill. Though South Utah Valley Waste Management oversees the Bayview Landfill, Provo remains the main lessee on the special-use lease agreement. Six other cities — Salem, Goshen, Woodland Hills, Springville, Spanish Fork and Mapleton — use the landfill to dispose of their waste.

SITLA and Provo initially agreed to an annual fee of $7,600, and the rent was raised three times throughout the years without objection from Provo, Keller said in legal briefs. But when SITLA announced in January 2007 that rent would go up to $150,000, Provo disputed SITLA's assertion the rent price fell within fair market value for the land.

"The court will note there is no evidence whatsoever of a (690) percent increase in land values between the 2002 and 2007 reviews," Keller wrote in a legal brief.

Keller previously told the Deseret Morning News SITLA and Provo used the consumer price index to determine a reasonable rent increase. Prior to this most recent rent increase, he said, SITLA brought in an appraiser who produced three separate fair rent prices — $30,000, $150,000 and $237,500.

Keller said the increase to $30,000 rent per year was more suitable because it is consistent with past rental increases. But J. Philip Cook, the appraiser hired by SITLA, said in an affidavit that $30,000 represented fair market rent only if the acreage were a vacant lot.

If SITLA does increase the rent to $150,000, it will be local taxpayers who will eventually pay the added cost of garbage disposal, Keller said previously.

"I couldn't tell you how much it will increase your garbage collection fee," he said. "But that's where it ends up."

On the other hand, Mitchell said, the money SITLA raises from rental fees goes toward public education.

Though SITLA won the lawsuit, Mitchell said he has reservations about McDade disputing the rental hike. But he said that will be sorted out in time.

"We'll just have to see how that plays out," he said.

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E-mail: jdana@desnews.com