BOND TICKER : ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : Proposals on Garbage Imports Due From Haulers Today

A proposal to import as much as 6,000 tons of garbage a day from outside the county will face a crucial test today, the deadline for interested trash haulers to submit proposals.

County officials have made trash importation a key part of their bankruptcy recovery plan, saying it could generate up to $55 million a year.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department had received no proposals from haulers. But Cymantha Atkinson, spokeswoman for the department, said officials expected to receive some today.

Atkinson said all proposals will be reviewed over the next few weeks to assess which are most practical. She said the county could begin accepting out-of-county trash by as early as November.

But it remains unclear whether the importation idea is viable. Officials from several San Diego County cities said Tuesday that they doubt it makes financial sense for them to export trash to Orange County, especially in the light of recent reductions in San Diego landfill disposal fees.

The San Diego Solid Waste Management Authority recently announced that it was dropping its landfill fee to $47.50 a ton, from a high earlier this year of $74. Orange County recently increased its disposal fees from $22.75 to $35 a ton, but officials said the fee could be reduced to $30 if the trash-importation plan is implemented.

Environmentalists Urge Bond Boycott

A group of environmentalists is urging investors to boycott today’s issuing of $1.2 billion worth of bonds to be used toward construction of the Eastern toll road. The environmentalists contend that the bonds represent a risky investment in light of the county bankruptcy and that the toll road would cut through the habitat of the California gnatcatcher, an endangered songbird.

Ernie Schneider Gets Engineering Firm Job

Former Orange County Chief Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider has been hired by Hunsaker & Associates, an Irvine-based engineering company. Schneider said he started work last week as a project manager who will help the company with land development issues and in pursuing new business.

Schneider was fired by the Board of Supervisors in late February, nearly three months after the county filed for federal bankruptcy protection. The former top administrator had worked for the county 24 years, rising through the ranks. He was formerly head of the Environmental Management Agency and an aide to then-Supervisor Bruce Nestande.

“I know he’s a hard worker, and anyone who works as hard as he does will fit right in here,” said John Michler, a company vice president. “He’ll nurture a good relationship with whoever he comes in contact with.”

Schneider is prohibited from lobbying county government for the next year because of a county-approved ethics code adopted in 1993.

Compiled by Times correspondent Shelby Grad with staff writer Mark Platte.