Solid Waste Program Budgeting for Alaska
Tribal Communities
A Beginner's Guide
Tamora Ablowaluk, Teller, Grade 6, Age 11
Step by step instructions on how to develop
a budget for your solid waste utility
SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

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Where to find answers...
1	Why We Wrote This Guide and a Thank You Note	1
2	How to Use This Guide	2
3	Where Do We Start?	3
3.1	What is a solid waste budget?	3
3.2	Do we need a budget?	3
3.3	What if we already have a great solid waste program?	4
3.4	Community involvement — An absolute must!	4
3.5	Technical assistance	4
3.6	Organization	7
3.7	What does a budget look like, and what are cost categories and line items?	7
3.8	Decisions, decisions. Making tradeoffs is part of the job	8
3.9	Can I just pick and choose what I spend my money on?	9
3.10	Will this Guide teach me about paying for the budget I want?	9
3.11	What are we getting into with a budget process?	9
4	How Do I Make a Budget?	13
4.1	Before we start building a budget...Not comfortable with math?	13
4.2	Estimating your total program cost	13
4.3	Creating a more detailed budget	20
4.4	Customizing your budget	33
4.5	Replacement costs and expenses that don't happen every year?	34
4.6	What if I share my equipment or staff or office with another program?	42
4.7	How do I update my budget and costs?	44
4.8	Congratulations!!	45
5	Budgeting Considerations, A Happy Operator, and the Top Ten Tips
to Improve Your Landfill!!	46
5.1	Training and experience are worth their weight in berries	46
5.2	Motivation is also worth a lot of berries	46
5.3	Other cost considerations	48
5.4	The top ten tips to improve your landfill	49
5.5	Ready to build your own waste utility budget?	49
6	What Does a Finished Budget Look Like?	50

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Chapter 1. Why We Wrote This Guide
1 Why We Wrote This Guide and a Thank
You Note
Protecting subsistence and health is the number one priority for Tribal peoples, and managing
wastes as best as possible helps keep people safe and healthy. But paying for what you want
is a challenge and involves a lot of tough decisions. In making those decisions, the first place
to start is developing a budget. You need to know how much your program will cost before
deciding what to cut and what to add.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funded Zender Environmental to write this Beginner's
Guide to help rural Alaska Tribes make a budget for their community's waste management program.
Anyone can use it, but we especially wrote it for Tribal Environmental Planners and Directors,
General Assistance Program (SAP) Coordinators, and Solid Waste Managers. If your Tribe is like
many Tribes, that's probably all the same person. And if you are reading this, it is probably you.
If you have been in your job for many years, you may know enough about budgets. If that is the
case, you may wish to just read the waste management information we learned in compiling this
document. We also provide an online budget template in MS Excel and Word at
https://www.epa.gov/tribal/solid-waste-program-budgeting-alaska-tribal-communities.
We absolutely could not make this Guide without the amazing help we had from the fourteen
Tribal Environmental Coordinators that we interviewed. They researched every little solid waste
expense they had. Thank you so much for helping us!
And this Guide would not look
as good without the amazing
artwork from the children
featured here, as part of our
artwork contest.
Thank you so much too!
The art is a reminder about why
we wrote this Guide. We left
the little feet in this picture
as a way to say that budgeting
for your solid waste utility is
not about numbers. It is about
community and our families, and
protecting them for seven (and
more) generations to come.
"Recycling Man" by Riley Ablowaluk, Teller, Grade 5, Age 10
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Chapter 2: How To Use This Guide
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2 How to Use This Guide
We tried to write this guide for all levels of budgeting experience. The bolded text and the
stories and notes that are highlighted in the boxes are intended to capture important points.
Also look at what we call in this guide "Figures"— they contain a lot of information in a pretty
easy to understand way. When you might need technical assistance, we tell you.
We also provide details for people who have more technical budgeting experience and need less
(or no) assistance from agencies or consultants. This way, they don't need to wait on the phone
drumming their fingers. Instead, they can spend time drumming at Yuraq's! And instead of paying a
consultant, they can pay for backhaul!
There are a lot of Tables in this Guide that put all the information you need on a single page.
Most of the Tables are harder to read than the "Figures." Tables are meant to be handy
reference guides—they are packed full. Don't expect to understand them right away. Refer back
to the Tables when you're ready to sit down with a cup of coffee and concentrate on numbers.
In compiling this Guide, we talked to many villages to get their detailed budgets. We looked for
patterns to see if there were tips we could share; we learned a lot. You will see our tips on what
to spend money on, and how to spend it, in fireweed colored boxes throughout the guide. These are
important. Here is our first tip:
Don't just spend your money. Use it efficiently and effectively to get a landfill that protects your
community. With the saved money and time, you can work on other problems!
If you see a blueberry colored box, please read what is inside:
Blue shaded text tells a story, describes an idea, or defines a word or phrase.
Chilkat Blanket yellow shaded text shows examples:
Annual operator salary = hours per week x hourly wage x 52 weeks
On pages 30 and 40 you'll see our example numbers placed into a formal budget template, and
on page 58, we provide you a blank budget template to copy and use. If you want an online
programmed version, go to
https://www.epa.gov/tribal/solid-waste-program-budgeting-alaska-tribal-communities.
Finally, please keep in mind that costs change every year. If you are using the Guide in late 2017
or after, go to page 44 to learn how to update the costs provided in this tool.
We at Zender Environmental hope this guide is useful. Please call us at 907-277-2111 or come
by our Anchorage office, 400 D St. Ste. 200. Let us know how you like it and we'll buy the coffee.
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
3 Where Do We Start?
This Chapter provides you with the background information that you should know before you get
started. It takes you through what a budget is, why you need it, how to get help, what the process
entails, and what a completed budget looks like.
3.1	What is a solid waste budget?
First things first. What is a solid waste budget? It is a detailed list of all the costs of your
solid waste program. Your solid waste program is the strategy that your community chooses to
manage its waste. Your program includes every planned aspect of how your waste is safely disposed
or recycled. It includes features such as a solid waste committee, school outreach, ordinances,
whether you have a collection program, etc. Some of these features cost money and need to be
included in the budget, and some do not. But all of these features contribute to how much waste
your workers must handle, how much time it takes them, and what equipment they need to perform
their job properly and safely.
3.2	bo we need a budget?
Does your electric utility have a budget? What about your water or wastewater utility (for those
who are lucky enough to be plumbed)? YES! These public utilities need to maintain their services.
For example, bulk fuel must be purchased every summer. So the utility needs to know how much it
will cost them. But the fuel doesn't load itself, and the equipment doesn't run by itself either. So
staff, training, billing time, and other costs also need to be calculated.
Waste disposal is a utility, just like water and electricity.
Your solid waste staff, equipment, landfill, recycling shed, and any other infrastructure form a
utility that provides a very valuable service to its customers.
You are a utility manager or utility planner.
Without knowing how much it costs to provide your service, you will run into trouble. You can
overspend and then not have any money left. You may need to lay off your landfill staff, stop
operating equipment, or end your backhaul program. Like too many of our villages, you might end up
with, or never get rid of, an open, spreading dump site, full of horrible risks for your community
and subsistence. Without a budget, your utility could be a public health catastrophe waiting to
happen instead of a shining service that represents community values.
Even though our Tribal cultures vary throughout the State, we have several values in common
with each other: thriftiness; disposal practices that respect the Tribe, Council, children, and
Elders; responsibility for the land and its animals; and subsistence treated as the way of
life it is.
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
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Why have a budget? The berries are
the picture worth a thousand words.
See Figure 3-1 on page 6 for questions
to ask yourself if you still wonder
whether you need a budget.
3.3 What if we already
have a great solid waste
program?
If you don't want to change anything,
you still need a written, known
budget that you can discuss with your
community and point to for funding
purposes. Figure 3-2 shows the steps
to take in writing out a budget that accurately describes your program. If you want to change your
program, or if your utility's past bookkeeping/ recordkeeping is so poor that reconstructing your
costs would take a lifetime to determine, then stick with us — we can make sure you will end up
with an estimated budget.
3.4 Community involvement — An absolute must!
Warning! We cannot say enough about how important community involvement is. Talking with
people in the community are the first and last steps, and at every step in-between. Your budget
will affect people's lives and probably their wallets, too. People are more committed to making
their own ideas work. So making the community part of the budget process can reduce the cost of
enforcement and landfill maintenance. And it can be easier to get grant funding with community
support. The more discussions you hold with folks about this process and what they want to see,
the better! Community leaders need to lead, or get involved in, these discussions if that is how
decisions are traditionally made.
A successful budget reflects what the community wants, and how ready they are to pay for it.
Rtfttfihr iotafe trash	]
3.5 Technical assistance
You can't be an expert in everything. You
want to protect your community from the
serious health risks that can occur with a
poorly operated landfill and/or poor community
disposal practices. You need real solid waste
management expertise to evaluate and
select the best solid waste options for your
community. And you need some experience with
numbers. If you can't wear both hats,
team up with experts in your village
(like your operator or bookkeeper).
It might be a good idea also to get input from
a favorite agency or technical assistance
organization. They can provide you with the
Artwork from Tununak's Youth to Work Program from Youth
Ages 14-17 in Grades 7-12
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
technical information you need. They can also help you define the technical "story" of your waste
disposal situation and calculate costs. But they may not know your community, so you must help
them define the details. That way, the solutions to your budget challenges will work. Don't know
who to call? Call or email us at 907-277-2111 or info0zendergroup.org, and we can provide a list of
contacts to choose from or help you ourselves. The table below also lists contact information for
solid waste technical assistance & training providers in Alaska.
Table 3-1 Statewide Technical Assistance <& Training Providers
Organization and Contact Information
Contact with Questions about:
Solid Waste Alaska Taskforce (SWAT) Comprised of individuals from
various agencies/organizations. Contact: 907SWAT@gmail.com
Any solid waste questions (you
will be referred to an expert
based on your question)
Zender Environmental, Contact: Simone Sebalo
ssebalo@zendergroup.org
907-277-2111
www.zendergroup.org/
Solid waste program
information, solid waste
equipment, backhaul,
budgeting, solid waste GAP
workplans
Trainings: Integrated
Solid Waste Management
Planning, Qualified Water
and Soil Sampling, Backhaul,
Composting, Special Topics
Alaska Dept of Environmental Conservation Contact:
Stephen Price stephen.price@alaska.gov
907-269-7467
http://dec.alaska.gov/eh/sw/
Solid waste program
information, solid waste
equipment, backhaul
Trainings: Rural Alaska Landfill
Operator, Rural Alaska
Landfill Administration
ANTHC, Contact: Desirae Roehl droehl@anthc.org 907-729-3496
http://anthc.org/
GAP workplans for solid waste
Trainings: Seven Generations
EPA Contact: Ted Jacobson, SSAI/SEE Tribal Solid Waste Liaison
tjacobson@ruralcap.com
907-865-7363
Solid waste program
information, solid waste
equipment, backhaul
Trainings: Rural Alaska Landfill
Operator, Rural Alaska
Landfill Administration
Looking for a company or organization not on this list? We can help you contact regional organizations as
well as recyclers that can also help with backhaul questions.
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
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Figure 3-1 Should I spend my time developing a budget?
Answer these questions:
Funding Problems?
A budget is required
to find more money or
to change how utility
resources are spent.
Do you sometimes lack the money to do program tasks?
Is your source of funds going away or getting smaller?
Will you be seeking grants to improve or close your site?
Community Involvement
Problems?
A budget affects people's
wallets so they want to
get involved.
Do you have residents who don't care about the solid waste
utility?
Do some residents feel they shouldn't have to pay fees or
wonder what they are getting for their fees?
Do some residents dump their trash where they are not
supposed to?
Planning Problems?
A budget provides a
detailed listing of how
your utility operates -
what are the priorities
and where can resources
be changed, and by how
much.
Do you have battles about what is most important to fund
for solid waste?
Do you wonder where your money goes?
Do you want to change operator hours or wages?
Do you want to start a recycling center or expand backhaul?
Do you want a new piece of equipment?
Do you want your landfill permitted?
If you answered YES to any of the above questions, you should probably keep reading about
budgets.
Figure 3-2 How do I make a budget for my existing program?
1
Write out your program in list form. Worry about the costs later. List out every effort, facility,
equipment, worker, training, meeting, and event that your program depends on.
2
Group and organize the list like the budget template on page 58, https://www.epa.gov/tribal/solid-
waste-program-budgeting-alaska-tribal-communities
3
If your city funds any solid waste work, list that too. Later, you can separate out who pays for what.
But it is very handy to have the full community solid waste budget—for funders, for City/Tribe
MOU's, and for future changes.
4
Identify "hidden costs"—what costs money but isn't a planned part of the program/utility? For
example, do you pay council members to attend meetings? Who does the accounting and cuts the
payroll checks? What about replacing A TV tires, or other costs that don't happen every year?
5
Sot it all down? Now write out your yearly costs for each line. If you have a great accounting
system, sit down with the bookkeeper and they will give you the costs. If anything doesn't make
sense - ask, or correct the way he/she organizes it.
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
6
If you don't have a great accounting system, interview the operator, technicians, mechanics,
educators, and others to find out the costs of each program line. For part-time and temp workers,
write out all the hours they work each year.
7
Stuck on costs that don't happen each year, or costs that are shared - like accounting or heavy
equipment use? Go to 42 learn how to account for these costs.
8
Have someone check your work. If you like, you can contact Zender staff and we will walk through it.
3.6	Organization
Too many of our village projects fail because they are not organized. Going through all the budget
steps will take time and it might get some council or community members upset. So you definitely
want to end up with the right budget!
Make sure that you have been given the official authority and time to:
•	Develop a full picture of all the components in your solid waste operation
•	Research costs
•	Develop your budget
•	Set up and facilitate meetings
•	Recalculate the budget numbers as needed
3.7	What does a budget look like, and what are cost categories
and line items?
Your budget will list each component of your program that costs money, like staff, supplies,
training, and equipment. These are called budget line items because they each are written on
a different budget line, and then added up. To better organize the budget, the line items are
grouped into categories, sometimes called "cost categories." The cost categories for a federal
grant are usually Personnel, Fringe, Travel, Supplies, Equipment, Contracting, Other and Indirect.
Want to see what a finished budget looks like,
with all its line items? Go to Section 6 at the
end. We have included six real-life budgets from
villages that have good landfills and programs.
Each green-shaded row is a cost category. Each
category has from one to several rows under
it. Those rows are all line items for that cost
category. Detailed budgets break down the cost
categories into separate line items. The simplest
budgets just list the total line item cost for the
whole category on one line, like this:
Personnel
$22,000
Fringe @ 10%
$2,200
Travel and Training
$1,000
Supplies
$2,000
Equipment
$6,000
Other
$7,500
Indirect @ 10%
$4,070
Total
$44,770
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3.8 Decisions, decisions. Making tradeoffs is part of the job...
Like most things in life, settling on a program budget involves a lot of decisions, and each decision
has a good side and a bad side. In settling on each budget line item, there are two things to
consider:
•	What you want
•	What it costs
You can't have everything you want if the cost is more than you have. If you increase spending on
one thing, you need to decrease spending on something else. You trade the "good" you get from
what you want, with the "bad" of what you gave up to afford it. This is called a "tradeoff."
For example, to afford more conference travel, you may decide to allow residents to load the
burnbox, so you can lower operator hours and the overall budget. Great, right? But allowing
residents to load the burnbox is dangerous, and you are placing your community at risk in doing so.
That's the tradeoff. And allowing residents to load the burnbox will make more landfill maintenance
work for the operator. So if operator hours are not adjusted for more cleanup work, your site
might expand, producing even more community risk and an even bigger tradeoff.
As another example, you can design a program with all kinds of fancy equipment and high staff
hours. But if total program costs are more than you can afford, you'll need to get the money from
somewhere else. Otherwise, your program, and perhaps even the Tribe, gets into money trouble.
In the worst case, you will need to pay back a lot of money - maybe through cutting out other
programs, like helping out Elders, search and rescue, paying for funerals, etc.
Effectiveness and Efficiency
Sometimes to pay for everything you need, you can increase user fees, or the success rate of
collecting those fees. But sometimes, that just does not work. It takes a long time to convince
folks to pay more.
Your budget should reflect the best choices for your community that you can afford.
In other words, the Community is more likely to pay more for their waste service if your program
spending is effective and efficient. Effective means that your landfill is protecting community
health like it is supposed to. Efficient means that you are operating that landfill for a low cost.
When you have low efficiency and low effectiveness, you may have a new landfill with all that fancy
equipment and it might not even work! Your community would be better off choosing an old dump
and a program that prioritizes a good operator and keeping residents away from the wastes.
Anyone hungry? Budgeting is like serving pie.
Designing a budget really is like slicing a berry pie. You or someone spent a lot of time picking
berries and a lot of time making it. It's valuable. And it's delicious, but it is only as big as it is. Once
it's eaten, there is not any more. You need to think out several different ways of cutting it before
you find the option that works for your family. Similarly, you want a budget that best fits your
community and divides the money (the pie) among staff, equipment, training, and other costs in the
way that protects your community the most. Everyone wishes the pie was bigger, but it's not. Who
should get the first slice?
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
Your first spending priority is a trained operator/technician who is dedicated to his/her job,
passionate about protecting the community, and tries to do the best job possible in the time
they have.
After your technical staff, think about how you should slice the other pieces of the pie. Table 3-2
lists the common solid waste budget line items and sample considerations when deciding whether
to include the items, and how much you should allot to them. You may have all of the line items or
some. You may also call a line item a different name. We found a lot of different titles for the
landfill staff, for example. We will be looking at the same Table 3-2 line items in Chapter 4. If you
forget what the line item means when you are going through that Chapter, you can refer to the
Table here.
3.9	Can I just pick and choose what I spend my money on?
Yes and no. Yes, you can choose thoughtfully what system is best for your community with money
you have. And no, there are some costs you will always have to pay. These line items cannot be cut
to "zero." They have a minimum cost associated with them which is their "fixed cost." Office heat
is an example. You can cut your staff down to one person at 10 hours a week. But one person still
needs the office heated and a full-time phone and internet. If you are renting, you still need to
pay the rent. That's why many financial advisors say to keep your fixed costs low. That way if you
are low on funds to run the utility, the money you do have can be spent on things that count, like
operator hours. So remember to think about fixed cost.
3.10	Will this Guide teach me about paying for the budget I want?
No, this Guide focuses on how to develop a budget, which is the cost side of things, called your
program outlays. The Guide doesn't provide information on finding resources to support your
program, but we do provide a lot of tips to make your program outlays count! The more effective
and efficient your budget outlays are, the easier it will be to find enough money to pay your
program. See Chapter 5 and the top ten tips for a summary.
3.11	What are we getting into with a budget process?
A big headache! But unless something is done about it, the concerns your dump causes won't go
away. And they often get much worse. A temporary headache now is better than our lands and
people being sick for years!
Table 3-2 Budget Line Items, Their Role in a Waste Utility, and Cost Operations
Item
Role
Options
Personnel
The people who make the utility work.
That garbage isn't going to compact itself!
The jobs listed below are the most
common. Often, these jobs are
shared and performed by a single
person. The more staff, the less time
they each need to do their jobs. If
an operator has a waste collector who
also serves as a landfill technician, the
operator needs less hours to maintain
the landfill.
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Item
Role
Options
Heavy
Equipment
Operator
A trained, often certified, person that
operates typically larger heavy equipment for
occasional compaction and consolidation, or
digging new trenches. In most communities
there is no separate heavy equipment
operator. When there is, they are often paid
at higher wages than the main landfill operator
(see below).
Heavy equipment operators
are sometimes shared between
departments/projects. For example,
they may work for the city and the
main landfill operator works for the
tribe.
Landfill
Operator/
Technician
The main person(s) that manages the landfill.
If they have heavy equipment, they are the
ones that use it to consolidate and compact.
Additionally, or instead, some communities
have specific heavy equipment operators that
might work on the landfill occasionally. Landfill
Operators are often the "burnbox" operator,
whether it's a stacked purchased model,
burncage, old fuel tank, or barrels, and they
may direct visitors to the correct location
in the landfill for discarding recyclables and
trash. They maintain and inspect the fence and
evaluate if there is runoff. They organize the
scrap/salvage yard.
To reduce operator hours, the landfill
should be closed to public. Less mess is
less mess to organize and cleanup.
Waste
Collector/
Hauler/
Landfill
Technician
Primary duties are waste collection and
disposal at landfill, may include burn box
operation, and other maintenance duties at the
landfilll. Usually under the direction of the
operator, but not always.
The more the community does to
discard their wastes properly, the
less hours your technicians need.
For example, it takes less hours to
collect waste from shared dumpsters
than from each household. On the
other hand, residents may pay more
for household collection - so more
collection hours might mean you can
pay for more.
Recycling
Manager/
Technician
Assists or manages inventory, collecting,
packaging, shipping bachaul
More recycling/backhaul work hours
might mean that you will need to
reduce critical landfill operation
hours. You could have a great backhaul
program and horrible environmental
risks if you build up your recycling
program more or faster than you
have funding for. Consider temporary
hire for your recycling project if you
have trouble paying for your landfill
operator.
Temporary
Laborer:
Site cleanup/
Spring
Cleanup
Helps the operator and/or landfill techician
with occasional landfill cleanup or other duties
Temporary hire sometimes can be
difficult to find at the right time.
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Chapter 3: Where Do We Start?
Item
Role
Options
Manager/
Planner/
Coordinator
This person is often the supervisor to the
program staff, but they most often find
funding, conduct outreach, develop budgets,
draft ordinances, organize and run community
SWM committees, etc. They often are the
lead Recycler/Backhaul Coordinator, or at
least arrange for backhaul shipping.
Duties are critical, but must be
weighed against ensuring the landfill
operator and technician positions
are adequately funded. But without
someone finding funds and conducting
outreach, nobody will work!
Bookkeeping/
administration
The bookkeeper usually handles accounting,
payroll, and taxes. An administrator may
handle some of these duties if a bookkeeper
isn't available, or may just oversee staff and
projects and ensure that reporting is carried
out.
Bookkeepers and administrators are
often shared between departments/
projects.
Miscellaneous
Positions
Other SWM jobs include Mechanic, Youth
Corps, SWM Committee
These might be temporary positions,
or very part-time hire, or may take
the form of stipends for meeting
attendance.
Travel and
Training
Training staff can motivate them and ensure
they are doing the job correctly.
A trained operator might need less
hours to do a better job. A trained
planner/technician can save money
as well, and reduce potential liability
risks. However, travel is expensive.
While landfill operator, backhaul,
and HAZWOPER training is best
done in-person, some types of staff
training can be done on online. RALO,
the landfill operator training, is
recommended every 2-3 years.
Supplies
Safety gear keeps staff safe. Proper desks,
chairs, computers, can save backs and save
time.
Do not skimp on safety gear. You
might find good deals online for office
supplies and computers should they
need to be replaced if they are broken,
or even deals in person when you are
in Anchorage (faster than ordering
online).
Equipment,
Fuel, and
Maintenance
The right piece of equipment for the job is
key. It can save personnel time and reduce
health and environmental risk.
Look for the smallest equipment that
will do the job. Otherwise fuel will
cost more and performance is often
not optimal, e.g., a large burner might
overheat a building or require more
used oil than your village has. A large
baler will take too long to load and
switch to another waste type, and
make bales that you can't move. Try
purchasing used equipment. For A TV's
and snowmachines, look at something
that will last - and don't purchase just
because it's the latest model.
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Item
Role
Options
Rent,
Utilities,
Other
Overhead
The right space for the job. A separate
location for recyclables can really improve
participation. A place for landfill staff while
recordkeeping to get warm can keep them
from quitting.
Really nice spaces help staff morale,
but can cost a lot. These are part of
your fixed costs (see Section 3-9).
Fixed costs are hard to sell/leave/
change when needed. And again, your
first spending priority is funding
the operator/technician, and
arming them with "good enough"
equipment to keep wastes from
harming your community.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
4 How Do I Make a Budget?
This Chapter shows you how to build your utility's budget. You can make a simple budget that is a
ballpark estimate of your costs, or you may want a detailed budget. We start with a simple budget
estimate, and then show how to create a more detailed budget.
Why keep it simple? Sometimes you just need an estimate of what you are spending. When you are
planning out a program, or choosing between different options, a ballpark cost estimate of each is
often better when you don't have the time or information to get more detailed.
Why detail your budget? Grants often request detailed budgets. Your council or community might
want to see exactly how you are spending your money. You might want to know exactly how you are
spending it too. It is easier to justify user fees.
4.1	Before we start building a budget...
Not comfortable with math?
If you're not used to working with lots of numbers, estimating the cost of the program you want
can be confusing. You'll need to devote several hours, or more likely, days. Try skimming the
text and tables to get a rough idea of your costs and what budget considerations are
important, then:
•	Grab a pen or a computer,
•	Make some coffee, and
•	Turn off the phone and shut the door.
You will be able to do it!! And don't hesitate to ask for help from one of the nice technical experts
listed in section 3.5.
4.2	Estimating your total program cost
Drumroll please! A budget estimate is actually just a best guess at the total cost for your utility.
An estimate doesn't give you any idea about how to budget for each Cost Category (i.e. Personnel,
Supplies, Travel, etc.). But it's still a budget because it tells you how much you will spend and
how much revenue you will need to make!
The following Table lists the annual program costs for 14 villages to give you an idea of the range
of waste utility budgets across the state. To give you an idea of what their program is like, we also
list their region, a brief program description, staff hours, population, and Waste Index Score. The
Waste Index is essentially a grade for your landfill, and it is explained more on page 18, after the
Table. You can use the Table to estimate a rough program cost. We'll walk you through the steps
over the next few pages.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Table 4-1 Comparison of YR 2016 Annual Program Costs and Waste Index
Scores for 14 Villages
I.D.
Region
Population
Utility Description
GAP Staff
Solid Waste
Time (Hours
per Week)
Other
staff
Time
(Hours
per
Week)
Annual Utility
Cost, Includes
Staff Time,
Equipment
Maintenance,
Training,
Overhead
Waste
Index
1
Central
Yup'ik
642
Voluntary household
collection, wetland
tundra, moderate
equipment use,
alternating operators
collect waste and
do some separation,
GAP staff do basic
backhau l/recyc li ng
75
58
$162,902
31%
2
Inupiaq
483
Voluntary household
and business collection
for fee, moderate
equipment use, regular
landfill maintenance
and collection by
operator, GAP staff
do basic backhaul/
recycling
14
22
$53,072
34%
3
Central
Yup'ik
368
Voluntary household
collection (will be
starting fee soon),
wetland tundra, landfill
technician collects
and separates waste,
carries out some
landfill maintenance,
heavy equipment
operator available
to empty burnbox
and cover, GAP staff
do basic backhaul/
recycling
9
13
$57,367
42%
4
Central
Yup'ik
1230
Voluntary household
collection, wetland
tundra, minimal heavy
equipment use, GAP
staff carry out annual
backhaul
20
20
$73,978
42%
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
I.D.
Region
Population
Utility Description
GAP Staff
Solid Waste
Time (Hours
per Week)
Other
staff
Time
(Hours
per
Week)
Annual Utility
Cost, Includes
Staff Time,
Equipment
Maintenance,
Training,
Overhead
Waste
Index
5
Central
Yup'ik
477
Voluntary household
collection, wetland
tundra, moderate
equipment use,
alternating operators
collected waste and
do some separation,
GAP staff do basic
backhau l/recyc li ng
57
96
$177,602
45%
6
Central
Yup'ik
130
Mandatory collection
program (for fee),
regular operator
collects waste,
controls access, and
operates burnbox,
regular heavy
equipment operator
maintains the landfill
and grades the roads,
GAP staff are highly
involved in solid waste
and work with Council
on fees, protocols,
backhau l/recyc li ng
8
60
$109,547
60%
7
Central
Yup'ik
247
Voluntary household
collection for fee,
wetland tundra,
minimal heavy
equipment use, regular
landfill maintenance,
and basic backhaul/
recycling
9
20
$55,366
62%
8
Central
Yup'ik
464
Voluntary household
collection, wetland
tundra, moderate
equipment use,
regular operator,
GAP staff do some
waste technician work,
and basic backhaul/
recycling
36
28
$102,179
68%
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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I.D.
Region
Population
Utility Description
GAP Staff
Solid Waste
Time (Hours
per Week)
Other
staff
Time
(Hours
per
Week)
Annual Utility
Cost, Includes
Staff Time,
Equipment
Maintenance,
Training,
Overhead
Waste
Index
9
Athabascan
256
Mostly self-haul,
voluntary collection
for a fee, daily
part-time landfill
maintenance &
burnbox management,
wet forest land,
minimal heavy
equipment use, and
basic backhaul/
recycling, GAP staff
does some waste tech
work
36
12
$81,316
77%
10
Athabascan
99
Voluntary household
collection to all homes
but only every 3
weeks, wet forest,
some heavy equipment,
heavy backhaul /
recycling, mostly in-
kind transport with
seasonal workers
5
7
$60,092
73%
11
Inupiaq
294
Voluntary household
collection for fee,
seasonal landfill
laborers, coastal
community, heavy
equipment use
is limited, fairly
advanced backhaul/
recycling, GAP staff
serve partly as waste
techs
50
13
$106,048
89%
12
Alutiiq
258
Mandatory collection
program (for fee),
coastal community,
fairly frequent heavy
equipment use, fairly
advanced backhaul/
recycling
—
106
$184,434
91%
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
I.D.
Region
Population
Utility Description
GAP Staff
Solid Waste
Time (Hours
per Week)
Other
staff
Time
(Hours
per
Week)
Annual Utility
Cost, Includes
Staff Time,
Equipment
Maintenance,
Training,
Overhead
Waste
Index
13
Inupiaq
207
No collection
program (community
members self-haul
to well-maintained
landfill), wetland
tundra, advanced
heavy equipment use,
advanced backhaul/
recycling. Residents
pay a monthly fee for
solid waste
9
7
$42,511
94%
14
Inupiaq
205
Voluntary household
collection, wetland
tundra, heavy
equipment use, and
basic backhaul/
recycling. Resident
pays a monthly fee for
solid waste
3
3
$21,541
104%
1 The most recent landfill score is inaccurate due to changes since last inspection.
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What are "GAP staff" and "Other staff"?
Table 4-1 lists the weekly hours spent on solid waste for both GAP staff and non-SAP staff.
What's the difference? If you are reading this Guide, you are likely GAP staff, and already know
the answer. Throughout this Guide, "GAP staff" refer to the Coordinator and/or Assistant who
are paid by their Tribe's EPA General Assistance Program (GAP) grant to perform the GAP
workplan, not just to perform solid waste management duties. If they are not working on waste,
they are working on other environmental problems, like air and water. Just like in most villages,
your operator and technician staff may be paid by GAP funds, but are not called GAP staff. We
note the difference in this Guide because it may help villages in compiling their GAP workplan to
know how much time other GAP staff spend on solid waste.
What is a Waste Index score?
The last column in Table 4-1 lists the community landfill's Waste Index score. The friendly Solid
Waste Program staff at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) evaluate
rural landfills as often as they can — typically every 1-5 years. They use a checklist of different
landfill operation and program features, called the Waste Index. They assign each feature
from 0 to 5 points depending on its relative merit.
You can access your Waste Index score at http://dec.alaska.gov/eh/sw/ (See the left side of
the page where it says "Search SWIMS Database.") A score of 70% is considered passing. Some
Index features may not relate directly to community health and environment. It is not an exact
measure, but it is easy to access and easy to understand. And an Index score can be a relative
estimate of how well a utility protects community health. In Chapter 5 we bring up the Waste
Index as a tool to assess and increase your staff's effectiveness in achieving a health-protective
waste utility.
What costs does an annual utility budget include?
The budgets listed in Table 4-1, and the budgets that you will see throughout this Guide
include all outlays for a solid waste program. That means that even if a Tribe pays for their
operator and equipment fuel with GAP, those outlays (i.e. expenses or costs) are still there. And
even if the City pays the operator, the outlay is still there.
Why did we include outlays that grants or the City already cover? Because you never know
when your source of funding may dry up. Your Council may want to use GAP for climate change
activities, your city may go broke, or bingo might be voted out.
You can use Table 4-1 to calculate a
ballpark estimate of your utility's cost.
With that estimate, you can start calculating
your user fees, and how much other money,
like GAP, bingo, city funds, etc. you'll need for
any shortfall. See the yellow-shaded example
on the next page.
However, solid waste costs are very village-
specific. As Table 4-1 shows, some villages
are able to get a great score on a low
budget, regardless of region, population, or
circumstances. Others have low scores
on a high budget.
Cathy Okbaok, Teller, Grade 6, Age 11
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Does more solid waste spending always mean a better landfill? NO!!!
Table 4-1 shows there is not a strong relationship between spending and a good landfill. The
communities are arranged in order of increasing Waste Index scores. As you can see, the last
two communities are able to achieve the highest Waste Index scores, despite having the
lowest annual program costs! We can tell you that they have a couple of things in common. They
have a really dedicated, thrifty, and knowledgeable operator. The operators are dedicated to
making their communities safe, thrifty in using the hours they have to do a really good job, and
knowledgeable about what to do. They also both have a supportive regional backhaul partner.
What else? You can access their full budgets, and the budgets of the other villages with the
top six scores, in Section 6. We also provide a brief description of their landfill program. Look up
the ID number in the first column of Table 4-1, and then view that budget in the Section 6.
How to Create a Rough Estimate of Your Solid Waste Program Costs
Use Table 4-1 to find a Waste Index score you want to achieve, and match as best as possible
your size and region to the villages that have similar scores. This will give you a range for your
program budget. If you want an exact estimate, choose the middle of that range.
For example, suppose I want to improve my existing Waste Index score to 60%. A Central Yup'ik
community of 110 people is spending $109,547 to achieve that score. They employ landfill staff for
60 hours per week. That sounds like a good fit. But there is a central Yup'ik village that spends only
$55,366.1 can see that their weekly staff hours are only 20 hours for landfill and 9 hours for GAP
staff. I think we need more staff time than that, but maybe we can operate our utility halfway
between these two costs:
($109,547 + $55,366) / 2 = $82,456
That cost is your first rough estimate of how much money you need to run your utility! It
includes the GAP Coordinator and GAP Assistant's time spent on Solid waste activities. If you want
an estimate without GAP staff time, then subtract the portion of salary that is spent on the waste
program. Get comfortable with estimating. You won't know the exact number unless you have quotes
for every line item. That is nearly impossible when you start a program.
A Simplified Way to Create a Rough Estimate:
Looking for just a real ballpark number for operating a waste program?
The mean average total cost for operating a village solid waste utility is:
$194.15/resident excluding GAP staff or other management type positions.
For example, on average, for a population of 400 people:
Each resident costs $194.15 to operate a waste utility:
400 folks x $194.15 dollars each = $77,660
This is the cost excluding wages paid through the GAP grant for the GAP coordinator and/or GAP
assistant. That is because we found that how many hours the GAP staff works doesn't depend on
the number of residents they serve. You already know how much is spent by GAP staff working on
waste components of their workplan. So you can add that cost to get a fuller ballpark estimate of
the value of your program.
Use this quick average cost calculation with caution. It will be a better rough estimate for medium
sized villages, 200 to 800 or so. Large villages typically will have a lower cost per resident to
operate a program, and a small village might have a bit higher cost per resident.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Now that you have a program budget estimate, what does it mean?
Yikes!!! These waste utilities are expensive!
Does $77,660 mean that each 4-person
household pays about $64,71 each month for
solid waste? Well, sort of. It means the value
of the program is worth that much, and that
much is being paid to carry out the program.
Most Alaska Villages use GAP funds to pay for
all or part of their landfill staff time, equipment
fuel, office overhead, and other items. Other
funding might be general funds, city taxes,
bingo revenue, and other miscellaneous grants.
What is left is covered by homes and businesses
through user fees. The average user fee is only
about $20/month, so households and businesses
are receiving a great deal.
How can you use this information? You can show your community what a good deal they are getting.
Maybe they will be more willing to pay a fee increase.
Being dependent on grant money is scary. Grants are never sure things. As a planner/manager,
your job is to reform your program as much as possible to cover your costs mostly by
user fees and other sources of local revenue. Your goal is to save GAP funds for program
administration and management, and not use them for operation. You want a program that doesn't
rely on grant funds and still protects the community from serious health risks. What does that look
like? How can you get there? What fees can you charge and what changes can you make to lower
program costs? What responsibilities might community members take on? It might take a few
years to get there, but your community will then have the capacity to protect their people
and lands forever.
4.3 Creating a more detailed budget
If you have a decent sense of where your program might be compared to other programs, there
is a way to develop cost estimates for each budget category. Remember how we said that we
researched the actual cost of village programs throughout Alaska? We used the information
collected to make charts showing the cost range for each main budget category described in Table
3-2. For each separate budget category, you can use these charts to estimate where your program
is along the spectrum of lowest cost to highest cost. We'll walk through how to do that here.
Keep in mind that it is always better to use your actual cost for any line item. You will have a
more accurate budget. A more accurate budget will help you plan your program that much better,
You may end up without money at the end of the year to run your program if your estimated budget
doesn't reflect your actual expenses. So in Section 4.4, we talk about using actual costs or quotes
you've obtained for different line items, and incorporating them into your budget.
Overview of Using the Range Charts
There are three Range Charts on the following pages that show the range of costs for operating a
solid waste utility in a rural Alaska village. For each main category, evaluate where your program is
compared to the descriptions on the low-end and high-end. Then select a cost that is proportionate
to where you fall on that range.
Alonza Topkok, Teller, Grade 3, Age 8
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Chapter 4; How Do I Make A Budget?
If you aren't familiar with other
programs, we recommend getting help in
evaluating how your program compares
to others. You can always contact one
of the technical assistance resources in
Table 3-1. Looking at the Range Charts
might seem a bit complicated, but it is
really just using your common sense,
and then choosing a cost. The resulting
budget won't be exact, but it should be a
good starting point. Be careful with your
estimates when you're unsure. Choose a
cost that is a bit higher than you think
it might be, so you will be budgeting enough money. If you end up with extra funds, you can revise
your estimates for next year.
What if you don't know anything yet about what your program will look like? You can use the
average cost for each category. The upside-down triangles in the Range Charts mark the average
cost of personnel, equipment, backhaul, etc. In this case, the average means that half of the
programs had higher costs, and half lower costs. If you feel that your program is about average
in all the cost categories, or you want to build a program that is somewhere in the middle of other
programs, the quickest way to get a cost estimate is to follow the page down along the triangles
and choose the middle value. Refer to the examples in the yellow boxes for additional guidance.
Using Range Charts 1 and 2 for Estimating Personnel Costs
The following two range charts are based on real information from 14 communities around
the state, and will help you estimate your personnel costs. Chart 1, on page 22 and 23, lists the
low-end and high end number of weekly hours for each position. Chart 2, on page 24, lists
the range of hourly wages for each position. To estimate the cost of each position, multiply
the estimated number of hours by the estimated wage. An example is given in the yellow-shaded
box after Chart 2. Please see charts on the following pages.
"Keep our river clean" by Talisa Komok, Teller, Grade 2, Age 7
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Chart 1 Range of weekly personnel hours for a Rural Solid Waste Utility
Manager/Planner Positions, Hours per Week
GAP Staff
Hours Per Week
(Total for
Coordinator and
Assistant)
Management done
by other Tribal/
City staff, or
established good
program makes low
need for GAP staff
3
Half of programs have less
hours, half more hours than:
19
~
All or nearly all of the GAP
workplan is solid waste
related. SWM outreach,
planning, management,
recycling, and significant
travel. Bookkeeping and
collection fee processing,
household subscriptions
and managing will-call
garbage pickup, etc. Larger
community/program
75



SWM Manager
Planning,
grantwriting, billing,
collecting duties
done done by GAP
or other staff or
small community
20
30
~
Manages and helps with
backhaul, true supervisor,
writes grants, plans,
tracks performance,
outreach, orders supplies,
education for medium to
larger community, or lead
in fully developed recycle
center 4Q



Total Management/
Outreach Type
Hours1
23
49
~
115



Operator/Technician Staff Positions, Hours Per Week
Landfill Equipment
Operator2
Good access control,
involved community,
the right equipment
for the job, or small
community
1
5
~
Poor access control, larger
community, untrained
operator, inadequate
equipment, and operator
also does waste haul,
tundra wetland, or other
landfill circumstance
needing more hours
25



Landfill Technician/
Operator
Good access control,
easy burnbox, the
right equipment,
little waste
separation required
1
20
~
Inadequate equipment,
poor access control,
non-involved community,
large community, tundra
wetland, or duties also
include other tasks
such as recycle center
management
64



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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Chart 1 Range of weekly personnel hours for a Rural Solid Waste Utility
Operator/Technician Staff Positions, Hours Per Week
Waste Hauler/
Landfill Technician
A few dumpsters,
working vehicles,
low collection
program use
2
14
~
House to house for full
village, long landfill road &
route, poor equipment
25



Recycling
Technician/ Laborer
3
14
~
20



Temp landfill
Laborers: Site
Cleanup, Other
Occasional Projects
Landfill under
control, fenced,
adequate equipment
3
M	
14
~
Uncontrolled landfill,
tundra wetland, poor
equipment
20
Mechanic/ Public
Works/ Handyman
Small community,
good equipment
1
4
~
Large community, a lot of
poor equipment
7



Total Technical
Staff
9
59
~
148



Administration
Bookkeeper/Clerk/
Payroll3
Responsible only for
simple bookkeeping/
Payro11
5
Half more, half less
10
~
Responsible for
billing, fee collection,
bookkeeping for program,
and payroll for large
community (mandatory
household participation)
or not highly trained
20



1	You don't need to have both GAP staff and Manager positions. Just be sure the total hours are within range
so you have someone to manage the program, plan, write grants, and conduct outreach.
2	Landfill operator/waste haulers, laborers, recycling technicians generally share jobs - each community does
it differently. You don't need every technical position, just ensure your total staff time is within the normal
range.
3	Unnecessary if your tribe's indirect pays for these functions.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Chart 2 Ranges and Median Values for Rural Waste Utility Staff Hourly Wages
Manager/Planner Positions
GAP Coordinator
$17
M	

$22
~

$32
GAP Assistant
$15

^8

$25
SWM Manager
$15
M	



$25
Operator/Technician Staff Pos
tions




Landfill Equipment Operator
$15
M	

$23
~

$35
Landfill Technician/Operator
$13
M	

$20
~

$35
Waste Hauler/Landfill
Technician
$13

$19
~

$24





Recycling Technician/Laborer
$15

$19
~

$24





Temp Landfill Laborers: site
cleanup, other occasional
projects
$10

$14
~

$16





Mechanic/ Public Works/
Handyman
$10
M	

$15
~

$20
Total Technical Staff
$76

$110
~

$149





Administration
Bookkeeper/Clerk/Payroll
$15
M	

$20
~

$25
Using Range Charts to estimate your budget is all about comparing your utility with others.
Visualize how you want your program to look. Think about your waste situation.
How much work effort is it? What do you want it to look like? Can staff do what they need without
increasing hours, or is our staff overworked? Do they seem like they are often not occupied with
tasks or could they do their tasks more efficiently? Then decrease your hours. Be comfortable
using your best guess. The example below is just one out of thousands on how you might decide the
right hours and wages for you and your staff. Sit back, talk it over with others, and give it a try!
24

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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Using Chart 1 and 2 to Calculate Personnel Expenses.
GAP staff hours. Let's assume you aren't new and have attended at least one 3-day solid waste
training so you know what the health risks are, what the issues are, and the different options for
collection and landfill operation.
On the very low end, GAP staff spend 3 hours each week on solid waste activities. Their utilities
have no problems for them to work on. Or the utility might have problems— but the GAP staff
is not who works on them. The high end of 75 hours per week for GAP staff is for large villages,
extreme conditions, brand new GAP staff that need to learn everything, etc.
There is no "right" number, but small communities who know their issues and how to solve them are
likely in the lower range between 3 and 19 hours. Suppose you already do the basics. You present to
council, community, and school regularly, and run Flying Cans. But you want to supervise your landfill
staff better, and also find funding for a new landfill. Choose closer to 19 hours per week— try 16
hours. You work 12 hours and your assistant works 4 hours a week organizing cans, and conducting
outreach. If you make $18 per hour, your cost is:
16 hours x $18/hr x 52 weeks = $14,976
Technical staff. You talk with your technical staff and experts like those in Table 3-1. You
decide your landfill situation is better than most and it is mostly under control. You don't have
much backhaul since you took care of several battery batches last year. Look at Chart 1. The total
technical staff hours range from 9 to 59 hours.
You are in a pretty good situation, so 20 hours total for your operator and waste technician each
week is a reasonable place to start. If the waste technician collects and unloads wastes for 12
hours each week (two 6-hour days), the operator can easily compact and consolidate in just 4 hours
per week, and use 2 hours to alternate each week with inspecting the fence, picking up litter, and
conducting equipment maintenance. You worry about having time for them to do an annual e-waste
event, and add 5 days of work (40 hours) for both staff:
Technician: (12 hrs x 52 weeks) + (40 hrs x 1 week) = 664 hours per year. Look up technician
pay ranges from $13 to $35. Select a wage to keep them at their job. Let's say $16/hr. So your
technician will cost:
664 hrs x $16/hr = $10,624/yr
Operator: 4 hrs x 52 weeks for heavy equipment operation + 2 hrs per week x 52 weeks for
maintenance/inspection + 40 hrs x 1 week= 352 hrs/yr
Let's pay our operator the average wage of $23/hr:
352 hours x $23 /hr = $8,096/yr
Total Personnel = GAP Staff + Technician + Operator = $33,696/yr
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Want to see how these costs would look in a formal budget? Go to page 32 - we stuck the costs
in a budget table so you can see! The rest of the budget is filled by numbers obtained from
the other yellow-shaded example boxes further down. So in the end, you can see how a complete
budget is built.
Estimating Other Category Line Items Using the Range Charts
So now you have an estimated Personnel budget for your utility that is fair and keeps your staff in
their job. Let's move on to the other line items you need to build your budget. Chart 3 lists
the ranges for Fringe, Supplies, Travel, Equipment, Rent and Utilities, Backhaul, and Indirect.
An example follows the Table in the yellow shaded box. Data is based primarily on 14 village
program budgets throughout the State.
A median average value is the point where half of the programs have a smaller value and half of
the programs have a larger value. A mean average value is the mathematical middle of the
programs. We provide the median value because the program budgets are all different in how
they address waste issues and how well they address them. If your program wants to hit at around
the middle mark in all budget categories compared with other programs, use the median value as
a starting basis.
Chart 3 Range and median value of yearly expenses for common budget line items
Item
Low-end Value of Range and
Example Scenario(s)
Median Value
High End Value and Example
Scenario(s)
Fringe
Fringe
Minimal, mostly required
taxes like unemployment
insurance, SSI.

Retirement benefits, health
benefits, possibly other perks

14%
23%
~
45%




Travel and Training
Travel & Training
Total Expense
(Airfare, lodging, per
diem, incidentals)
Operator & technicians
gets RALO training
every 3 years, Manager
goes to ATCEM or AFE
or management related
training, bookkeepper gets
Quickbooks. Total 1 to 2
trips per year

SAP staff both go to ATCEM/
AFE and another conference, plus
water quality training. Operator
& technicians go to RALO,
Council goes to AFE or ATCEM,
miscellaneous other training.
Potential for inappropriate use
of funds at this high-end. More
travel than needed

$3,000
$10,960
~
$19,000




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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Item
Low-end Value of Range and
Example Scenario(s)
Median Value
High End Value and Example
Scenario(s)
3- 5 day Alaska
Training, per person
Achievable for most of AK
with exception of Aleutians,
and some rarely served
villages with complex
routing. Federal meals
per diem and hotel stay is
conference rate or better
(or stay at cheaper hotel),
advance non-refundable
fares. No car rental.
PURCHASE EARLY and
SHOP AROUND

Higher per diem rate policy,
complex or remote routing, high-
end hotels, non-advance tickets,
refundable versus non-refundable
tickets, etc. Car rental when one
isn't really needed, etc. purchase

$1,000
M	
$2,112
~
$3,220
Supplies



Safety Gear For
Landfill Staff
Some programs spent $0
which is not recommended.
ALWAYS protect your
workers. Low-end would be
minimal landfill staff hours
with new working heavy
equipment, little manual
tasks that force staff to
come into contact with
wastes.

Hard to spend too much on safety
gear, but the high end is typically
larger villages with more staff
positions. Very dirty jobs can
demand more with more wear and
tear.

$240
$1,000
~
$5,000
Misc (items under
$5,000 e.g. backhaul
supplies, tools)
Examples - hand tools,
litter bags, landfill signs ,
visqueen, bander

Examples - bags of lime for
septage,concrete for post
shoring, pallet jacks, connexes,
pallets

$46
M	
$523
~
$1,000
Office Supplies
(desk, chair,
computer, etc.)
1 office staff, small
community, furniture and
computer treated well,
minimum infrastructure, or
larger staff and more office
equipment but refurbished,
older models used (these
should be acceptable for
a SWM program as long
work is productive and
ergonomics are safe).

2-3 office staff, reasonably
new furnishings and computers
adequate for the job OR 1-2
office staff with high-end
equipment and furnishings
possibly more than is needed to
do the job (inappropriate use of
funds)

$240
$2,400
~
$3,185



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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Item
Low-end Value of Range and
Example Scenario(s)
Median Value
High End Value and Example
Scenario(s)
Supplies Total
(All supplies together)
Small population with a small
to medium size program, 1
landfill staff position

Larger population, more landfill
staff positions, and medium to
large program

$240
$1,200
~
$8,400



Equipment Fuel
Heavy Equipment -
Diesel, Gallons Used
Small landfill under control

Large landfill under some control
or medium landfill out of control

$30
M	
$365
~
$1,114
Heavy Equipment -
Diesel -Total Cost
$216
*
$2,304
~
$7,798



ATV & Snow/machine
- Gasoline - Gallons
Used
Use is minimal for errands,
occasional will call, backhaul,
household surveys, etc.

Heavy house to house collection,
or cart collection with multiple
trips to landfill, distant landfill,
many errands

$60
$^0
$1,040



ATV & Snow/machine -
Gasoline -Total Cost
$146
$1,468
~
$7,280



Truck (not a waste
collection vehicle)
Gasoline, Gal used
Small landfill, occasional
use by staff for SWM,
landfill errands, recyclables
transport to airport.

Medium to large landfill,
comprehensive program with
regular truck use for errands,
backhaul, supplies, many landfill
trips

$86
$283
~
$480



Landfill Truck
Gasoline, Total Cost
$516
$1,984
~
$3,451



Equipment Maintenance, Repair and Replacement, Insurance
ATV & Snowmachine -
Repair & Replacement
See description of ATV/
snomachine use min fuel
category above. Assumes
average care of equipment.

See description of ATV/
snomachine fuel use above. Note
- misuse of equipment or outside
storage increases this cost. A
good lube gun is "golden" to keep
costs down.

148
$1,020
T
$1,500



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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Item
Low-end Value of Range and
Example Scenario(s)
Median Value
High End Value and Example
Scenario(s)
Heavy Equipment -
Parts & Maintenance
See description of heavy
equipment use above.
Assumes average care of
equipment. Note - Older
equipment may have
slightly higher maintenance
requirements, but parts
might be cheaper (if
available).

See description of heavy
equipment use above. Note -
misuse of equipment or storing it
outside will increase this cost. A
good lube gun is worth its weight
in gold to keep the parts costs
down.

$286
$500
~
$3,000



Insurance for Heavy
Equipment (Total)
Often insurance policy
covers all the Tribe's
equipment together, which
makes it cheaper. Also,
smaller equipment is less
costly, and any safety
features help. SHOP
AROUND.

Multiple pieces, larger equipment,
no bulk pricing. Shop around.

$245
$2,205
~
$4,164



Office Operation
Phone, Fax, Internet
Small office, 1 phone, good
bundled pricing, proportional
share for full Tribal office

2 phones or poor pricing, separate
service from rest of Tribal office
may also be higher cost.

$279
$1,800
~
$4,560



Utilities (electric &
heat)
Dependent on fuel prices
mostly. Smaller offices
might be lower.

Dependent on fuel prices mostly.
Larger offices might be higher.

$240
$2,598
~
$3,660



Office Space Rent
Rent is typically part of
the Tribal Building rent,
so depends on what share
of the building rent is
owed and the total rent of
building.

Rent is typically part of Tribal
Building rent. Depends on what
share of the building rent is owed
and the total rent of building. If
separate, high-end rent tends
to be larger, newer, or scarcer
office spaces.

$570
$1,800
~
$4,200



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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Item
Low-end Value of Range and
Example Scenario(s)
Median Value
High End Value and Example
Scenario(s)
Backhaul Transportation and Vendor Costs (Freight and fees)
Maintenance Backhaul
of E-Wastes,
Batteries, Lights
Smaller village, or med-
larger village that uses in-
kind transport donations

Larger village

$1,250
$3,361
~
$8,500



Administration
Bookkeeper/Clerk/
Payroll
Responsible only for simple
bookkeeping/Payroll

Responsible for billing, fee
collection, bookkeeping for
program, and payroll for large
community (mandatory household
participation) or not highly
trained.

$720
$1,500
~
$12,375



The process of using these numbers to estimate the rest of your budget is basically the same
as creating your Personnel budget. Follow along in the yellow-shaded example below to get more
practice at visualizing your program and estimating where it falls in the range of other programs.
After you're finished, or as you go along, see how we place these numbers into the Sample Budget
in Table 4-2. What's the next step? Well, if you know any actual costs or quotes and you want
your budget more accurate, you can add in these. The next Section discusses how and gives you a
number of costs for a range of solid waste items.
Using Chart 3 to Build the Rest of Your Budget
You are a small community and your landfill staff is moderately experienced. Your administrator
says that expenses for solid waste are too high. You want to estimate what an average program
would spend. Then you customize that budget to reflect your actual, known costs.
Fringe: Obtain your fringe rate from your bookkeeper and multiply that by your personnel total.
Be sure your fringe includes workers compensation insurance. Let's use the average 23% on our
personnel total salary of $33,696. Fringe = 23% x $33,696 = $7,750
Travel and Training: You haven't been keeping track of travel costs and they seem to always
change, so you use the average of $2,112 per trip for the one operator training, two ATCEM, and
one AFE trips your staff makes. Travel = $2,112 x 4 = $8,448
Supplies: You are a pretty small village, so you select a cost in the lower half range of Supplies,
between $240 and $1,000 for safety gear. If you haven't purchased any for a while and need to
restock, $800 is a decent estimate. For miscellaneous supplies like tools and backhaul - you have no
idea. So you can go with the median $523. Office supplies - you have what you need, so select the
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
low-end value of $240. Your total supplies add up to $1,563. It's over the median of $1,200, but a
lot less than $8,400. So it is reasonable.
Fuel: Let's say you have just a dozer. Let's select halfway between the median and low range for
gallons used. You're a small program, but don't know enough about your costs yet to budget for the
lowest cost.
Dozer gallons of fuel used= (median value + low-end value)-^ 2 = (365+30) ^ 2 - 395-^2 = 197.50 gal.
or about 198 gal.
Your village's diesel costs $6 per gal so your fuel=198 gal x $6/gal = $l,188/year
Heavy Equipment Parts and Maintenance: Let's select the halfway point between the lowest cost
$286 and the mid-range cost of $500, which is $393/year.
Insurance: If costs are about mid-lower range, it would cost $1,225 (halfway between $245 and
$2,205)
Office Operation: Your office has two phone lines and internet. Each month you pay $75 for
internet and $100 for the phone/fax lines. Select $2,100 for phone, internet, and fax ($175 x 12
months). That value fits the range well, so you can move on. For utilities, you heard that the barge
might not make it this year and you will have to fly in fuel. So choose at the very high end, utilities
= $3,660. For office rent, your Tribe owns the building, so your rent is $0.
Backhaul Transportation and Recycling Charges (Freight): You're not at all sure about this one,
but since you just started your program and don't think you'll get much to backhaul this year, you
choose the lower end = $1,250
Bookkeeping: You must account for the person that processes payroll and tracks your expenses.
Let's say they don't have to collect fees or bill. They work for the full Tribe, and mostly on other
programs. Select the middle range, $1,500.
Total: $7,750+ $8,448 + $1,563 +$1,188 + $393+ 1,225+ $2,100+ $3,660+$0 +$1,250 +$1,500
=$29,077.
Table 4-2 incorporates all of these line items plus the personnel costs in the prior example.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Table 4-2. Sample Budget Using Yellow Shaded Example Numbers
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Personnel
GAP Coordinator/Director presents to community regularly, and
runs Flying Cans. Supervising landfill staff, finding funding for a
new landfill.
$18
hour
624
$11,232
SAP Assistant works 4 hours a week organizing cans, conducting
outreach
$18
hour
208
$3,744
Solid Waste Technician: Collects and unloads wastes each week,
assists operator, annual backhaul e-waste event, for 5 days of
work
$16
hour
664
$10,624
Operator: compact and consolidate each week, inspects the
fence, picks up litter, and conducts equipment maintenance,
backhaul and annual e-waste event for 5 days of work
$23
hour
352
$8,096
Total Personnel (without fringe)
$33,696
Total Fringe, including FICA, workers compensation, benefits
23%


$7,750
Travel and Training
Rural Landfill Operator Training (operator and technician,
alternate years)
$2,112
people
2
$2,112
ATCEM & AFE (Coordinator goes to both, Assistant to one)
$2,112

3
$7,496
Training & Travel Total
$8,448
Supplies
Office supplies
$240
lump
1
$240
Miscellaneous
$523
lump
1
$523
Safety gear for Solid Waste Technicians
$800
lump
1
$800
Supplies Total
$1,563
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance
Equipment Fuel
Dozer fuel
$6
gallon
198
$1,188
Equipment Maintenance & Equipment Insurance
Dozer - Parts & Maintenance (Be sure to read 3.5 on this value!)
$393
yearly
1
$393
Insurance
$1,225
yearly
1
$1,225
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total



$2,806
Rent & Utilities
Phone, fax, internet
Phone & fax
$100
month
12
$1,200
Internet
$75
month
12
$900
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Public Utilities and Rent




Utilities
$3,660
year
1
$3,660
Rent
$0
year
1
$0
Rent and Utilities Total
$5,760
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
Freight and Fees, backhaul
$1,250
year
1
$1,250
Total Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
$1,250
Indirect Administrative and Overhead Costs
Administration (payroll, bookkeeping)
$1,500
year
1
$1,500
Total Indirect Overhead Expenses
$1,500
Total Annual Expense
$62,773
4.4 Customizing your budget
In the Range Charts, we provide examples of staff time and wages for programs throughout the
State. In designing a more specific budget for your program, estimate as best you can, and then
test it out. How you test and what to look for is beyond the scope of this Guide, but here are the
types of questions to ask.
How is your utility working? Can you cut any personnel hours (including yours)? Do you need more
management hours to make sure the landfill staff is working on the tasks that will help community
health? Need more administration hours to get your collection rate up? Need more landfill staff
hours because they don't have the time to pick up the trash outside the fence?
Developing just the right mix of personnel hours for your system and your community is a process,
and what is right will change over time. What about the other line items?
In Chart 3 above, we provided typical fuel usage and maintenance costs for common waste
equipment and vehicles. But there are many different supplies and other needs that might be part
of your budget one year, and not the next.
Table 4-3 lists costs for many types of waste utility supplies, equipment, and services. See
anything that you need? Then add it as a line item in your budget. An example is included in yellow-
shade after the Table. Important notes about Table 4-3:
1.	The costs listed do not include shipping. Don't forget to call your transport companies to get
shipping quotes to include in your budget.
2.	The "M" superscript on an item means that it is a maintenance item and the cost will be typically
incurred each year. Items without an "M" are things that typically are purchased less frequently.
See Section 4.6 on time-averaging those costs, so that you are budgeting enough to pay for them
when time comes to replace goods or purchase services.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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4.5 Replacement costs and expenses that don't happen every
year?
Accounting for costs over time is actually quite simple. We will demonstrate the most basic way
that assumes you can't make interest from any savings in your bank account. This would be true of
any grant funds anyway.
Item Cost / Number of years it lasts = Yearly cost
The Good news! This formula works for both replacement costs and for averaging an expense.
We give you are example of how to calculate these costs on page 41.
Always have a replacement cost line item in your budget for equipment that you are unable to
finance through a grant.
Table 4-3 Costs of Various Solid Waste Supplies and Equipment
Note: Costs do not include freight. Vendors listed are those most commonly used by villages and
their inclusion is not intended as an endorsement.
Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
BACKHAUL SUPPLIES AND FEES For more information on these items and vendors, see http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/backhaul_supplies.pdf
Totes
$400-$550 each, with lids
For a list of companies that sell totes, see: http://
www.zendergroup.org/docs/backhaul_supplies.pdf
Connex
(for storing
hazardous
wastes or
recyclables).
$2,500 and up. The price will
depend on the shipping companies
cost for the Connex. Chances are
you can get a free one for your
backhaul use from the barge
company, so call first.
Call your barge company and ask first if they have
any you can use in the community or if they can
drop one off (for free). If not, ask if there are any
connexes in your community for purchase. If there
are some, they will give you the identifying numbers
on the outside of the connex. You can check them
out to see if you'd want to purchase them if they
have any available in your community to use, or can
drop one off for you to fill.
Pallets"1
$5.00-$8.50 each.

Some regional airlines have
provided communities with free
pallets but communities pay the
shipping.
Please see http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/
backhaul_supplies.pdf for information on how to
purchase.
Some villages buy their pallets
locally from companies that have
projects going on (usually for $5 -
$10 per pallet).

Shrink wrapM
$20 for a roll, and $75 for a case
of 4

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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
Polypropylene
strapping
(for securing
wrapped pallets
and tying down
pallets within a
connex)
$285 for an 8x8 roll
See this factsheet for additional information on
how to purchase, http://www.zendergroup.org/
docs/backhaul_supplies.pdf
Freon removal
equipment
About $2,500
See http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/Freon_
removal.pdf
ALPAR bags
for community
litter cleanup"1
$10 for 200 bags from ALPAR
Contact Mary Fisher at ALPAR, 907-644-7968
alpar@gci.net
Banding kits
Banding machine: $375
See this factsheet for additional information on
how to purchase, http://www.zendergroup.org/
docs/backhaul_supplies.pdf
Steel 3/4" banding: $130 for a
2,000 foot roll.
Tensioner: $210
Sealer: $70
Seals: $80 for a box of 2,500
Cutters: $60
Total for all listed above = $875
for the kit.
Lead Acid
Battery
supplies"1
Plasti-dip spray (for insulating Lead
Acid Battery terminals): $11
See this factsheet for additional information on
how to purchase, http://www.zendergroup.org/
docs/backhaul_supplies.pdf
Spray foam (for filling cracks/
holes in broken batteries): $10
Bag of vermiculite (for neutralizing
battery acid in a tote): $65 per
bag
Full Battery
Acid Spill Kit
$175
Kit items can be purchased separately from a
number of vendors and combined for a spill kit.
Some vendors sell assembled kits. See backhaul
supplies factsheet for item list and vendors,
http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/backhaul_
supplies.pdf
Field Mercury
Spill Kit
$63
Kit items can be purchased separately from a
number of vendors and combined for a spill kit.
Some vendors sell assembled kits. See backhaul
supplies factsheet for item list and vendors,
http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/backhaul_
supplies.pdf
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
Absorbent pads
for spills
Just Oil Pads - white pads (15x19):
$125
For more information see http://www.zendergroup.
org/docs/Safety_gear.pdf
Universal Absorbent Pads, 100
count (15"x 19"): $125
Pallet Jack
$450 for a pallet jack that can lift
up to 5,500 lbs
See this factsheet for additional information on
how to purchase, http://www.zendergroup.org/
docs/backhaul_supplies.pdf
$2,700 for a pallet jack with a
built in scale that can lift up to
5,000 lbs
Boxes for
shipping lights"1
Available free from your Alaska
recycler
See this factsheet for additional information on
how to obtain, http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/
backhaul_supplies.pdf
Tools and
supplies for
preparing
vehicles for
backhaul(cars,
A TVs, sno-go's,
etc)
• Punches (3/16" Steel): $35
In the summer of 2012, Hooper Bay prepared a
large amount of scrap metal for backhauling.
All of the supplies and equipment they needed for
the preparation are shown in the invoice at this
link: www.zendergroup.org/docs/scrap_metal_
supplies.pdf You can view this invoice for an exact
list of equipment purchased, and the amounts and
prices of each
• Brass Punches (for Fuel Tanks):
$70
• 2-3 lb sledge Drilling hammers:
$28
• Sawzall or Hackzall Kit (battery
operated): $42 Extra 18 volt Li-Ion
Battery: $140
• Sawzall Blades - 6", 12-18 TPI
(5-packs): $35
• Hand Pumps for removing Fluids:
$21
• Extra Hose (3/4", 5/8", 1/2") 3
ft lengths": $42
• Jack Stands (3-Ton, 2-pack):
$53
• 3-Ton Floor Jack: $350
• Diagonal Cutters (Dikes) - 7-8
inch: $35
• Steel Drain Pans: $13
• Plastic Funnels: $9
• 5-galIon Buckets w/screw top
lids: $7
• Hand Scrub/wipes (self-cleanup):
$35
• Socket Set-148 piece-both
Metric and American: $145
• 4-way Tire Iron: $25
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
Backhaul
shipping costsM
Transportation costs vary
throughout the state. Contact
your local barge or air company
for quotes. If you are shipping
by barge, you can ask your barge
company for a quote for shipping
a 20 container - they will usually
give you a minimum weight price
which means that you can fill the
connex with as many materials as
you have for the set price. A good
placeholder cost would be: $6,000
Tip: It doesn't hurt to ask if the barge company can
provide any free or reduced cost transportation.
Many communities have received free shipping or
additional connex shipping for free, or reduced
cost shipping just by asking.
If you are shipping by plane, ask the air companies
for a similar donation, or reduced rate, or if you
have a hub organization that you work with, ask if
they have a lower negotiated rate.
Safety gear
Average costs for safety gear:
For more information about safety gear and
companies that sell it, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/Safety_gear.pdf
Neoprene gloves: $ 11/pair
Cut resistant work gloves:
$21/pair
Emergency medical bag: $90
Field first aid kit: $35
Nylon apron: $22 each
Anti-fog goggles: $3-$12 each
Ear plugs (box of 200): $46
Tyvek suit: $7 each
Half mask respirator: $26
each
P-100 particulate cartridge:
$9 each
Recycling feesM
Call the recycling company that
you are shipping to. Everyone has
different pricing and different
materials they will accept. As an
estimate, 2016 recycling fees are
listed here:
See this document for a list of other recycling
companies in Alaska and Seattle area http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/recycling_buyback.pdf
CRT monitors: $18 each LCD
TV's & monitors: $15 each All
electronics: $0.20/lb
Can't find what you are looking for? Contact Zender
Environmental or any of the resources listed on
page 5.
CRT TV's: $10-$50each
Refrigerators: $25 each
Appliances: $10 each
Lead acid batteries: no charge
Mixed batteries: $3.50/lb
Fluorescent bulb tubes: $ 1.14/lb
Mercury devices: $ 15/lb

To recycle used tires, estimate
tires for $150 per 2,000 pounds of
tires

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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Back to TOC
Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
RECYCLING EQUIPMENT
Recycling baler
Cost depends on the type and size
of baler purchased but range from
$10,000-$15,000.
For more information about recycling balers and
companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/baler_recyc.pdf
Recycling bins
Cost depends on the type and size
of bins/containers purchased.
For more information about recycling bins/
containers and companies that sell them, go to:
http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/Recycling bins,
pdf
WOTEC (used
oil blender)
$24,000-$54,000 depending on
the size.
For more information about WOTEC's, go to:
http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/WOTEC print,
pdf
Used oil burner
$8,000-$12,000 depending on the
size and model
For more information about used oil burners and
companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/oil_burners_print.pdf
Antifreeze
recycling unit
Smaller units cost between $1,500
and $3,000. Note that on an
annual basis you will also need to
purchase coolant additives to add
to the recycled antifreeze as well
as filters, so an annual amount to
add to your budget might be about
$300 per 80 gallons of antifreeze
recycled, or $3.75/gal.
For more information about antifreeze recyclers
and companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/Antifreeze Recycling print,
pdf
Drum crusher
Costs vary depending on type and
size but can range from $10,000-
$16,000.
For more information about drum crushers and
companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/drums.pdf
Glass crushers
or palletizers
Costs vary depending on type and
size. $11,000 for a medium sized
unit (call to update)
For more information about glass crushers and
companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/Glass_Crushers.pdf
LANDFILL EQUIPMENT
Fencing
Cost of fencing varies too much to
give an average estimate (depends
on how much is needed, the layout,
the terrain etc.). See the document
to the right for tips on getting
quotes for fencing.
For tips on getting quotes for fencing and fencing
company contact information, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/fencing.pdf
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
Garage for
heavy equipment
See line item for connexes.
Connexes can store equipment. A skid steer can fit
in a regular 20' connex. For bigger equipment, some
communities have stacked connexes and joined
them together, or built lean-tos or roofs on top.
You can also purchase Fabric Structure buildings
to store equipment. Search the internet for Fabric
Structures for Equipment Storage and you will
find companies and their pricing for these types of
structures.
Landfill Signs
Cost depends on the size of the
sign and its properties. Costs of
a basic 4x4 metal sign with posts
start at about $600 per sign.
For tips on getting quotes for landfill signs and
companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/docs/lf_signs.pdf
Burnbox
Skid mounted Burn Unit for
$35,000 and a trailer mounted
Burn Unit for $32,000
For more information about burnboxes and
companies that sell them, go to: http://www.
zendergroup.org/burnbox.html
Heavy
Equipment for
the landfill
For an exact quote you will need
to call equipment companies but
average costs are:
Ted Jacobson from EPA is a great, free
resource for information about landfill equipment
(researching, purchasing, maintaining, etc.). Give
him a call or email at 907-865-7363 tjacobson©
ruralcap.com
Skid steer
New skid steer with and auxiliary
hydraulics and tracks is ~$52,000,
using the government G5A rate
that tribes are eligible for (see
www.gsa.gov) Used:~$40,000
It is recommended to get one that has auxiliary
hydraulics hooked up on the mast and one
that has solid rubber tires, or tracks
(tracks are preferred).
Below are some examples of companies that sell
heavy equipment. Used equipment can be a good
option and can save you a lot of money. When
looking for used equipment, contact companies
that sell AND rent heavy equipment (companies
that rent equipment usually have high maintenance
standards, so the used equipment they sell are
generally in good condition). Fall is often a good
time to buy as rented equipment is back from
the field and companies are anxious to get rid
of it. Setting the best price is a matter of
waiting for just for the right piece to make its
way from Lower-48 distributors or Southcentral
construction projects.
Dozer
Cost of a user dozer that is sized
smaller than a D5 or JD450 and
has around 4,000-10,000 hours on
it ranges from $60,000-$80,000.
Call equipment companies for a
more exact quote.

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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Back to TOC
Item
Approximate Cost in 2016 (costs
listed here do not include shipping
costs)
Comments, Where to Purchase, Resources
COLLECTION EQUIPMENT
Trash carts
A 4x8 trash haul trailer costs
$2,900 to $3,500
See this document for more information about
trash collection carts and companies that sell them
http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/collection carts,
pdf
A stationary trash bin costs about
$1,950
Dumpsters
Costs of dumpsters vary too
much to give an average estimate
(depends on the type of dumpsters,
size, etc). See the document to the
right for the types of dumpsters
available and companies that sell
them.
See this document for tips on getting quotes
for dumpsters and dumpster company contact
information, http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/
Dumpsters.pdf
TRAINING
HAZWOPER
Training
There are several companies
in Anchorage that provide
HAZWOPER training (both in
Anchorage and on-site). See
document to the right for more
information.
See this document for information about
HAZWOPER training and companies that provide
training http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/
HAZWOPER.pdf
Freon Removal
Training
See document to the right for
a list of companies that provide
Freon removal training both on-site
and in Anchorage. Call for quotes.
See this document for information about Freon
removal and training and companies that provide
training http://www.zendergroup.org/docs/Freon_
removal.pdf
M An "M" superscript denotes that the item is typically a maintenance item, and the cost is typically incurred each year.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
Customizing Your Budget Example
Let's say you've built your budget using all median values in the Range Charts. But 1) You want
to be sure you have all the supplies your program needs for backhaul, 2) You realize that you
need a pallet jack, and 3) Your used oil burner needs replacing in 5 years. Leave the other
categories the way they are and refine your Supplies and Equipment Repair, Maintenance,
and Insurance categories.
1)	Look at the list of backhaul supplies on pages 34-36 and add up all of the item costs. Let's say
you have lots of vermiculite and all the banding supplies you'll need for a while. But you need more
plastic wrap, and insulator spray and foam for lead acid batteries. Also, you need to purchase a
mercury spill kit. So, for this year you'll add those line items under Miscellaneous Supplies, along
with any other items you might have, like ALPAR bags or a hammer and drill. Let's assume that
this is all you need:
Miscellaneous Supplies
Plasti-dip spray:	$11
Spray foam:	$10
Polypropylene strapping: $285
Mercury Spill kit:	$63
Total:	$369
The total $369 is different from the $523 that is listed as median for the Misc. Supplies
in Chart 3. If you start tracking your budgets now, in a few years you will know your own
average Supplies cost and can use that in your future budgets.
2)	Add the $2,700 pallet jack cost under the Supplies category. The range of Supplies costs does
not include larger one-time purchases such as pallet jacks. The Supplies category cost in Chart
3 only accounts for items that are generally purchased each year. For most grants and budgets,
items under $5,000 are still considered supplies. If they are in continued need after their lifespan
is up, they need to be replaced. If you think you need to save up each year to replace a supply, then
add a replacement cost every year after the purchase year.
3)	Add a repair & replacement fund for the used oil burner. You should have made one when you
purchased the burner, but it is never too late! To calculate the annual cost for your repair and
replacement fund, divide the cost of the burner (see Table 4-3, page 38) by how soon you'll need to
replace it (5 years in this case).
($10,000 average burner cost + $1,000 freight estimate) 5 years = $2,200.
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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So remember Table 4-2, the sample budget? Using the yellow shaded numbers from the budget
customization example, your Supplies and Equipment categories now look like this:
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity Annual Cost
Supplies
Office supplies
$240
lump
1
$240
Miscellaneous: Plastic strap, insulator spray, foam for lead acid
batteries, mercury spill kit
$369
lump
1
$369
Safety gear for Solid Waste Technicians
$800
lump
1
$800
Pallet jack (this year only)



$2,700
Supplies Total



$4,109
Equipment Fuel, Repair and Replacement, Insurance
Equipment Fuel
Dozer fuel
$6
gallon
198
$1,188
Equipment Maintenance & Equipment Insurance
Used oil burner replacement
$2,200
lump
1
$2,200
Heavy Equipment - Parts & Maintenance (see Section 4.5)
$500
year ly
1
$1,300
Insurance
$1,225
year ly
1
$1,225
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total
$5,913
Okay, let's continue with Section 4.5.
We included a replacement cost in the yellow shaded example on page 41, but in case you skipped
that and are just reading the main text right now, here is what we are talking about.
Replacement Cost Example: You purchase an A TV for $12,000 in Year 2016 dollars. It lasts for
5 years before it needs to be replaced. You will plan to be using your GAP grant by then to work on
your Indoor Air Program, so you need to cover the cost through your utility revenue. Your yearly
replacement cost is:
$12,000 / 5 years = $2,400
Expense Example: A backhaul every 2 years costs $5,000. Your annual backhaul costs are:
$5,000 / 2 years = $2,500
For heavy equipment, Tribes and cities usually get those from grant monies. They are really
expensive to purchase, and would add a substantial amount of repair and replacement costs to your
annual budget. There is varying advice on this matter. The bottom line, it never hurts to add
a replacement fund for your heavy equipment. We recommend you do add it. Your user fees
and other revenue might not be able to cover it, but at least you can make saving for a new
dozer a goal.
4.6 What if I share my equipment or staff or office with another
program?
Sharing items and staff with other programs and projects is a great idea for our small
communities. It helps reduce the cost. It is common to share the dozer with a construction
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Chapter 4; How Do I Make A Budget?
project or the water utility. Our waste utilities benefit
because we can share the costs of insurance and repair.
If we share the dozer with the City or an outside
project, we can even earn revenue to pay for the
program.
It is common to share the payroll clerk with every other
Tribal program. Otherwise the Tribe needs to hire ten
people for 2 hours a week and train all of them
in bookkeeping.
Sometimes referred to as "proportional" or "allocated"
costs, shared costs must be calculated. The good news?
It is easy to do.
1.	Find out the total cost of the item.
2.	Determine or estimate the percent of time you use the item for solid waste.
3.	Multiply these two numbers together.
Shared Costs
Example 1. You share your dozer with the City water utility. They let you borrow it for 4 hours
each week. You find out that they use the dozer an average of 416 hours each year for their
construction work. That is an average of 8 hours each week. It costs the City $3,000 to insure and
maintain the dozer. What is the your shared cost for the dozer?
1.	The total cost is $3,000.
2.	The total time the dozer is used is 4 hours (solid waste) + 8 hours (City) per week, or 12 hours
each week. The percent of time the dozer is used is:
4 hours / 12 hours = 1/3 or 33%
3.	The solid waste cost is 33% of $3,000 = $1,000
Example 2. You share your bookkeeper with the rest of the Tribal programs. She works fulltime
- 40 hours each week. She makes $32,000 each year. You ask her how much time she spends
processing the checks for your solid waste time, other solid waste staff time, and tracking
expenses in Quickbooks. She tells you about 4 hours each week.
1.	The total cost is $32,000.
2.	The total percent time is 4 hours / 40 hours = 10%
3.	The solid waste cost is 10% of $32,000 = $3,200
fi+uke«K|«^ ~
I
"Do throw your trash away, think about what
we are provided from the land." Youth to Work
Group, Tununak, 8th Grade
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Chapter 4: How Do I Make A Budget?
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Even if the Tribe doesn't pay their share of the costs, it is important to include the cost in your
program budget. As a planner/manager you need to know the full costs of your program. If the
City stops loaning their dozer and starts charging, you will be prepared. Also, in applying for solid
waste grants, you need to show the full program cost.
4.7 How do I update my budget and costs?
Costs usually change over time (mostly they go up, but sometimes down). In the Range Charts and
Table 4-2, we provide cost information that reflects the year we wrote this Guide - 2016. If you
are reading this Guide past July 2017, and you want a rough estimate for any budget item increase,
you can use the change in the Anchorage Consumer Product Index (CPI)1. To calculate this, the
Alaska Department of Labor has a great site. Go to:
http://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/cpi/calc.cfm You will see something like the following figure. Note,
because the page updates each year, when you look at this page in 2017, the button will say "Get
2017 value" and the green shade will say "Anchorage 2017 value".
On the site, simply enter 2016 in the blank white box as the year you want to compare, and the
Guide cost you want to update as the "$ value". Click on the "Get value" button. Your cost will
appear in the green shaded box. Use the Anchorage value, not the U.S. value.
Consumer Price Index - Inflation and Deflation Calculators
Inflation Calculator for Anchorage and the U.S.
Find out what your prior year's dollar values were equivalent to in 2016
Enter the year you want to compare	Enter the $ value	Get 2016 value
Anchorage 2016 value	U.S. 2016 value
Looking for more accuracy in your updating? Read on!
Wages: Wages in our villages depend more on local conditions than the CPI. That is because there
are only so many jobs and so many people to fill them. In updating the wages in Chart 2, be aware
that you should always just choose the wage that will hire and retain the right worker. Applying
the CPI to the salary ranges might make them more accurate, but be aware that it might not. How
much have wages in your community gone up in the past 5 or 10 years? In most villages, it is not
nearly as much as the CPI.
Transportation, Travel, Utilities, and Fuel: In rural Alaska, airfares, shipping costs, electricity,
and heat are tied to fuel prices. If you are reading this Guide after July 2017, and you want a more
exact update, look up the most recent average fuel price here: https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/
web/Portals/4/pub/Heating_Fuel_Prices_by_Region_2005-2016_Source_DCRA.xlsx and calculate
the percent change from the 2016 January price of $4.71. The most recent average price will be at
the far right end of row 7. Let's say it is $5.00. To calculate the percent change:
(5.00 - 4.71) * 4.71 = 0.062 (this is a 6.2% increase)
Apply this percentage to your fuel cost. For example, in Chart 3, page 29, the low end cost for
utilities is $240. Simply multiply by 1.062:
$240 x 1.062 =$254.88, or rounded up, $255.
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Chapter 4; How Do I Make A Budget?
1. The CPI isn't provided for villages, and since
most goods and services are purchased there,
this CPI is best.
4.8 Congratulations!!
You've completed the budget
calculations Chapter. Hopefully,
you have a pretty good sense
of what it takes to make a budget.
The next Chapter provides some
critical information related
to the budget decisions you make.
After that, you'll be armed
with everything you need to
build a budget that works for
your community.
Rebekah Oquilluk, Teller, Grade 7, Age 12
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Chapter 5: Budgeting Considerations
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5 Budgeting Considerations, A Happy
Operator, and the Top Ten Tips to Improve
Your Landfill!!
Keeping within a budget is hard, whether it's for your family or your solid waste utility. This
Chapter gives you some budgeting tips. We'll discuss how important your landfill staff are, and how
to make a budget that supports them. We'll conclude with a summary list of everything we learned
from reviewing solid waste budgets throughout Alaska.
5.1 Training and experience are worth their weight in berries.
In analyzing 14 village waste utility budgets, we found that wage levels don't depend on what region
you're from, they depend on your community. It's up to you decide what wage will retain a good
operator/technician in your community. Why be concerned about keeping them in their job? We
did find that Utilities with high Waste Index scores had experienced and trained operators and/
or technicians. What does that mean? Don't make the mistake of skimping on operator training.
Utilities with experienced and trained staff have the best operated landfills. A good landfill staff
protects your community and lands from the effects of landfill contaminants.
What makes a trained and experienced landfill staff? You can have a trained staff by sending
them to the Rural Alaska Landfill Operator's course. As your utility develops, send them to
other trainings that can help them with backhaul, reuse sheds, and monitoring for any landfill
contamination. See Table 3-1 for training contacts.
It is critical to have trained staff, but why do you need landfill staff with experience? Because
training won't cover all the situations that your operator and technicians will face. They also need
experience in what works and what doesn't for your utility and community. Experience is critical.
But they can't get experience if they quit. It is important for the staff to know how to do their
job, and for them to show up at work!!
You'll need to budget enough money to fairly compensate them for their work.
You need experienced staff. Be sure to offer your landfill and waste collection staff a wage that
will keep a good worker working for your community.
If your operator or technicians quit because of low-wages, it may take weeks or months to find
someone to replace them. Meantime, your landfill may become a real public health threat.
5.2 Motivation is also worth a lot of berries.
What else does the budget have to do with good staff? Training and experience mean staff
know how to do their job. Remember our discussion about effectiveness and efficiency?
Knowing how to do their job means they can be effective. Motivation is something that makes
them efficient. If staff are motivated, they will be efficient. They will work hard to get a lot
done in the time they have.
How do you motivate them? Consider an incentive for operators and technicians that improves
your utility's ability to protect public health. Maybe you can budget enough money to give them
a raise in their wages.
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Chapter 5: Budgeting Considerations
Budgeting means making tradeoffs to accomplish your priority goals.
If giving your technical staff a higher wage to keep them— or enough hours to properly do their
job— means cutting the budget somewhere else, do it. There are lots of ways.
•	Purchase used and smaller equipment instead of new and larger-than-you-need.
•	Cut out a conference trip for Council and/or GAP staff or other travel that is
not truly critical.
•	Decrease GAP solid waste time. Get a volunteer to do spring cleanup or school carnival, write
a shorter plan, purchase a refurbished instead of new computer, make do with an older A TV,
and look at other innovative ways to save money in your utility program.
You may not need to cut your budget. You save money by not training someone new. You save a
lot of money by having someone who can do their job in less time. When we looked at Landfill
scores and operator time, it was very clear that in Alaska villages:
A good operator can do a great job with just a few hours per week. An unmotivated or untrained
operator can do a lousy job with a full 40 hours.
And if your budget doesn't allow a raise to reward your staff, you can throw a party, give out gift
cards, or the store can donate a new net. Or what about declaring a community pot luck in honor
of the staff? All of these things can help to motivate and retain staff without costing a lot.
How do I know if my staff is improving the landfill and protecting health?
When do you give that reward to staff? We suggest using the Waste Index for at least one
evaluation tool. In general, the better score you have, the more your solid waste health risks are
reduced. You can select a category(ies) that most improves your landfill's ability to protect public
health. When you or your staff attain a "5", or even move up one point, it's community potluck time!
The actions listed in the Waste Index that landfill staff can take to most reduce community risks
are listed on the next page.
The bottom line is that the number of hours and the kind of work you have for your utility staff
affects your landfill performance as a public health utility, AND it affects your budget bottom
line. Your Personnel structure is the most important decision you'll make when developing a budget.
So take your time, ask questions, discuss your options with experts, and don't be afraid to adjust
your decisions once you test them out.
Top Waste Index Categories that your Operator and Technicians can work on so that your
personnel budget is better at protecting community health:
Access Control - Controlling who goes to the site and where they can access.
Burn Management - Control when you burn, what you burn, and where the smoke goes. See Burning
Tips at http://www.zendergroup.org/burning.html
Collection Program - Keep people out of the landfill so they don't come in contact with wastes and
they don't discard or burn wastes improperly. See collection resources at http://www.zendergroup.
org/collection.html
Operator Training - A knowledgeable operator knows how to manage the landfill safely. See
Operator resources at http://www.zendergroup.org/operator.html
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Separate Salvage Area - So that residents aren't in contact with hazardous or disease
transmitting waste
Working Face- Minimizing the active waste disposal area in the site
Special Wastes - Keep harmful wastes like lead acid batteries, used oil, household hazardous
waste, electronic wastes, septage, and animal carcasses stored or discarded properly.
Backhaul Program - Don't let the landfill become a hazardous waste storage area - an accident is
bound to happen. Backhaul out hazardous wastes. Scrap, cans, and plastics are an eyesore but can
remain at your landfill until your priority issues are over. See backhaul resources at
http://www.zendergroup.org/backhaul.html
5.3 Other cost considerations
There are many ways to lower costs for your waste utility. Which one is best for you depends on
your situation. Think it through, ask your community, and consider asking a solid waste expert in
the region or state. They are familiar with the different types of programs, ways to cut costs, and
what actions most safeguard community health. The Figure below lists some example cost factors
that don't affect how well your program protects health. If you want a lower cost utility, adopt
more left hand side features.
Figure 4-1 Some Cost Factors in Solid Waste Programs that Can Be Changed without
Affecting Community Health Protection
•	Staff hours limited to what is useful in
reducing risks
•	Used/refurbished/smaller equipment
•	Older office equipment and computers
•	Travel only for absolute needed reasons,
like operator training
•	Less time spent on programs that reduce
non-harmful wastes
•	Motivated staff
A
•	Full-time staff with time to work on non-
waste related duties.
•	Large fuel guzzling equipment just because
grant money was available to get it bigger
than needed.
•	Cutting edge office, all the bells and
whistles that that aren't needed in a
computer, desk, etc.
•	Per diem that pays more than the actual
cost (staff don't need to make money when
traveling).
•	Working on whatever program happens to
be next on the list, not on what will make
progress
•	Traveling to conferences that don't help
improve the waste situation.
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Chapter 5: Budgeting Considerations
5.4	The top ten tips to improve your landfill
What did we learn about landfills in writing this Guide? A lot. We want to be sure that we share it.
The actions and policies that we recommend are based on the extensive, long talks we did with our
14 village volunteers, their waste index scores and other village scores, and additional discussions
with regional experts to verify regional situations. You will be serving your Tribe very well if you
adopt these tips and create a budget that supports them. It might take a few years to get there
completely. But even if we struggle with how much money to spend on a dozer or staff wages or
supplies, we always know how valuable our community and lands are. Priceless.
5.5	Ready to build your own waste utility budget?
After you take a look at our ten tips on the next page, you've read through the entire Guide!! Now
it is time to build a budget that fits your program. Think about what works with your program now,
and what you want your program to do in the future. If you are looking for grant monies to change
your operations, you'll need to have both current and future budgets in your proposal. Chapter 6
gives six examples of what your completed budget can look like.
Top Ten Tips to Improve your Landfill!!
10. You can have a great landfill even if your community is poor. We found communities with
high poverty levels and great waste utilities, and communities with relatively low poverty levels and
"bad" utilities.
9. A landfill doesn't maintain itself, so you need some staff time and equipment. That means
that, in general, your program can get better with more money and even small communities need to
spend something to protect their people and lands.
8. Larger communities might need more work to get a good landfill. Larger communities tend to
have worse landfill scores. After all, there are a lot more people discarding wastes. So there are
more wastes to manage and more community outreach is needed.
7. How much you spend on GAP staff might not matter. There isn't a clear connection between
how much GAP staff time is devoted to solid waste and how good a landfill and waste programs is.
But if you work hard on improving specific issues with your landfill that protect community health,
then your time does matter.
6. How much time your operator and waste technician spend at their jobs might not matter.
Some villages had low hours for their staff but had very high landfill scores. Others employed
several staff full time and still had a bad score.
BUT some things do count:
5. The importance the community places on your program matters. Do they treat it like a utility
or like a dump?
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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
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4. Restricting access to the landfill is an effective way to improve it. Communities that
restrict access to their landfills have better DEC Waste Index scores.
3. A good operator makes a good landfill. Your landfill operator and waste technician's ability
to perform his/her job at a high level is one of the most important aspects of your solid waste
program.
2. What the community wants is important. If your utility doesn't accomplish the community's
goals and address your community's situation, then you are unlikely to get their support or money.
Focus on community participation/involvement.
1. You can make a difference. What you as the planner/manager/outreach staff do at your
job matters. Prioritizing your landfill activities helps keep people safe. Depending on your waste
situation, you might need to work fulltime, or part-time, but you must prioritize to make progress.
6 What Does a Finished Budget Look Like?
Six examples of actual solid waste budgets from Alaska communities with Waste Indexes of 68%
or higher are provided below. The ID corresponds to Table 4-1. Remember, your budget will be
different. This layout is one example of how to display your budget. But also budgets don't need to
look this detailed - just the item and annual costs can be fine. There is a blank budget on
page 58 to copy and use over. Prefer to use an electronic budget template?
We have a programmed Excel version at:
https://www.epa.gov/tribal/solid-waste-program-budgeting-alaska-tribal-communities.
Village ID #11, in Inupiaq Region, Population 294
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Personnel
Landfill Laborer: The laborer collects solid waste from homes three
times a week along with conducting landfill maintenance activities.
$15
hour
312
$4,680
Laborers/Temporary Hires: Conduct solid waste activities as needed.
$15
hour
360
$5,400
IGAP Environmental Coordinator: Solid waste administration/oversight
is performed by the Coordinator and she also handles recycling and
backhaul.
~$20
hour
1300
$25,922
IGAP Environmental Assistant: Assists with recycling and trash
collection. Solid waste work is 60% of her time which is reflected here.
~$18
hour
1300
$23,231
Total Payroll (without fringe)
$59,233
Fringe, including FICA, Workers Compensation, benefits
24%

$14,216
Personnel Total
$73,449
Travel and Training
RALO or hazwoper training for Landfill Tech
$3,220
person
1
$3,220
AFE
$1,610
person
2
$3,220
ATCEM
$1,610
person
2
$3,220
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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
Village ID #11, in Inupiaq Region, Population 294
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Regional Conference in Nome
$1,610
person
2
$3,220
Environmental Advisory Committee
$300
person
6
$1,800
Training & Travel Total
$14,680
Supplies
PPE, Office and Program Supplies
$1,050
annual costs
$1,050
Postage/Mailing
$46
annual costs
$46
Supplies Total
$1,096
Equipment Fuel, Maintenance, and Insurance
ATV & Snowmachine - Gasoline
$6.25
gallon
300
$1,875
ATV & Snowmachine - Parts & Maintenance
$148
annual costs
$148
Equipment Fuel, Maintenance, and Insurance Total
$2,023
Rent & Utilities
Internet Services
$50
month
12
$600
Heating Fuel
$300
month
12
$3,600
Rent and Utilities Total
$4,200
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
Backhaul - Supplies, Transport Costs, etc.
$8,500
annual costs
$8,500
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
$8,500
Additional Administrative and Overhead Costs
Administration (payroll, bookkeeping, supervision, etc.)
$25
hour
84
$2,100
Total Additional Administrative & Overhead Expenses
$2,100
Total Annual 0 & M Expense
$106,048
Village ID #13, in Inupiaq Region, Population 207
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Personnel
City Landfill Operator / Waste Technician: A Technician works 8-16 hrs/
week collecting trash, and separating out burnables and haz. waste.
He maintains the landfill, covers and consolidates waste and uses a cat
tractor.
$35
hour
328
$11,480
City Landfill Tech Backup: This person works minimal hrs/yr assisting
the main If tech with the same duties.
$30
hour
20
$600
IGAP Environmental Coordinator: Solid waste work includes recycling
and backhaul (collection, preparation, shipping out etc.), annual spring
cleanup, biannual river cleanup
$30
hour
234
$7,020
IGAP Environmental Assistant: Duties similar to Env Coordinator above
$25
hour
234
$5,850
Total Payroll (without fringe)
$24,950
51

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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
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Village ID #13, in Inupiaq Region, Population 207
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Fringe, inc. FICA, Workers Compensation, benefits
14%

$3,493
Annual Insurance for the City LF Tech to operate equipment & perform
duties
$245
annual
$245
Personnel Total
$28,688
Travel and Training
ATCEM
$3,220
person
2
$6,440
LF Tech is FiALO trained (thus far receives free training from Kawerak)
$0
person
1
$0
Regional solid waste training for IGAP coordinator and assistant
$500
person
2
$1,000
Training & Travel Total
$7,440
Supplies
PPE for Solid Waste Technicians (gloves, Tyvek) and backhaul supplies
such as shrink wrap and other packaging materials (through IGAP)
$500
year
1
$500
PPE for Solid Waste Technicians (gloves, boots, masks) (through City)
$700
year
1
$700
Supplies Total
$1,200
Equipment Fuel, Maintenance, and Insurance
Heavy Equipment - Fuel for Cat Tractor (paid by City)
$4.80
gallon
480
$2,304
ATV fuel for solid waste related activities (through IGAP)
$900
year
1
$900
ATV fuel for recycling and backhaul specific activities (through IGAP)
$450
year
1
$450
Heavy Equipment - Parts & Maintenance
$350
annual
$350
Equipment Fuel, Maintenance, and Insurance Total
$4,004
Rent & Utilities
Phone
15.75
month
12
189
Internet
7.5
month
12
90
Tribal Utilities
75
month
12
900
Rent and Utilities Total
$1,179
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
$0
Additional Administrative and Overhead Costs
Administration (payroll, bookkeeping, supervision, etc.)
$1,500
annual costs
$1,500
Total Additional Administrative & Overhead Expenses
$1,500
Total Annual 0 & M Expense
$44,011
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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
Village ID #8, in Central Yup'ik Region, Population 464
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Personnel
Landfill Technician: A Technician works 5 hrs/day, 5 days/week He
keeps the landfill clean and organized, separates out non-burnables
from the wastestream, and loads and operates the burnbox. He
operates the heavy equipment. He collects trash each week from bins
around the community
$19.25
hour
1300
$25,025
Laborers: A few weeks a year, laborers are used to help the landfill
technician cleanup in and around the landfill and fix fencing.
~$16
hour
160
$2,637
IGAP Environmental Coordinator: Solid waste administration/oversight
is performed by the Coordinator and she also handles recycling and
backhaul. Solid waste work is 60% of her time which is reflected here.
$19.25
hour
936
$18,018
IGAP Environmental Assistant: Assists with recycling and trash
collection. Solid waste work is 60% of her time which is reflected here.
$16.75
hour
936
$15,678
Total Payroll (without fringe)
$61,358
Fringe, inc. FICA, Workers Compensation, benefits
21%

$12,885
Personnel Total
$74,243
Travel and Training
Ralo or hazwoper training for Landfill Tech
$2,173
person
1
$2,173
AFE
$2,965
person
2
$5,930
ATCEM
$2,173
person
2
$4,346
Quickbooks training for accountant
$2,173
person
1
$2,173
Training & Travel Total
$14,622
Supplies
PPE for Solid Waste Technicians (gloves, boots, masks, and also trash
bags)
$500
year
1
$500
Supplies Total
$500
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance
Equipment Fuel
ATV & Snowmachine - Gasoline
$5.00
gallon
240
$1,200
Heavy Equipment - Diesel
$5.00
gallon
960
$4,800
Equipment Maintenance & Equipment Insurance
ATV & Snowmachine - Parts & Maintenance
$350
annual costs
$350
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total
$6,350
Rent & Utilities
53

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Village ID #8, in Central Yup'ik Region, Population 464
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Phone Service
$33
month
12
$396
Utilities
$150
month
12
$1,800
Internet Services
$39
month
12
$468
Rent and Utilities Total
$2,664
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
Backhaul of batteries to Bethel and a Connex to Seattle (every other
year)
$2,300
load
1
$2,300
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
$2,300
Additional Administrative and Overhead Costs
Administration (payroll, bookkeeping, supervision, etc.)
$1,500
annual costs
$1,500
Total Additional Administrative & Overhead Expenses
$1,500
Total Annual 0 & M Expense
$102,179
Village ID #12, in Alutiiq Region, Population 258
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Personnel
A Heavy Equipment Operator is employed to conduct landfill operations
approximately 8 hours per month at a rate of at least $25.
$25
hour
96
$2,400
Two Solid Waste Technicians are employed for landfill operations and
collection services. Both technicians work 16 hours weekly on landfill
maintenance and 16 hours weekly on solid waste collection services.
Solid Waste Technicians are paid $15 to $18 an hour depending on
experience. The annual pay is divided equally between the City and
Tribal governments.
$18
hour
3,328
$59,904
A Solid Waste Supervisor is employed to oversee the administrative
aspects of the solid waste program at a rate of $18 to $25 an hour
depending on experience. The Supervisor is a full time employee.
$25
hour
2,080
$52,000
The City government employs a Solid Waste Administrative Assistant
that works 4 hours per day at a rate of $15 to $20, depending on
experience. The Administrative Assistant is responsible for answering
public inquiries and billing for collection services.
$20
hour
1,040
$20,800
Total Payroll (without fringe)
$135,104
Fringe, inc. FICA, Workers Compensation, benefits
15%

$20,266
Personnel Total
$155,370
Travel and Training
RALO & 40 Hr HAZWOPER
$3,000
54

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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
Village ID #12, in Alutiiq Region, Population 258



Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Training & Travel Total
$3,000
Supplies
PPE for Solid Waste Technicians
$5,000
annually
1
$5,000
Office Supplies (ink, paper, etc.)
$200
month
12
$2,400
Hand Tools (shovels, rakes, etc.)
$1,000
annually
1
$1,000
Supplies Total
$8,400
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance
Equipment Fuel
Skid Steer - Diesel
~$5.30
gallon
240
$1,272
Solid Waste Collection ATV - Gasoline
~$7.20
gallon
208
$1,496
Landfill Truck - Gasoline
~$7.20
gallon
480
$3,451
Tree Chipper & Generator - Gasoline
~$7.20
gallon
240
$1,725
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total
$7,944
Rent & Utilities
Telephone
$120
month
12
$1,440
Internet
$90
month
12
$1,080
Office Rent (Includes most Utilities)
$300
month
12
$3,600
Recycling Center Electricity
$300
month
12
$3,600
Rent and Utilities Total
$9,720
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
$0
Total Annual 0 & M Expense
$184,434
Village ID #6, in Central Yup'ik (Bristol Bay) Region, Population 130
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Personnel
Equipment Operator: 0.50 FTE Works 4 hrs/day. Maintains and
operates the equipment to cover solid waste from residential,
businesses, lodges, and commercial customers. Assists the Landfill
Operator with the handling/ placement of solid and hazardous waste
brought to the landfill and recycle center for proper disposal. Grade
road in winter months as needed. Assists the Landfill Operator as
needed on burn unit when it becomes too full to burn waste.
$18
hour
1040
$18,720
55

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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
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Village ID #6, in Central Yup'ik (Bristol Bay) Region, Population 130
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Landfill Operator: 0.50 FTE Works 4 hrs/day. Collects, maintains, and
oversees disposal of solid waste from residential, businesses, lodges,
and commercial customers. Opens and closes the landfill and controls
access. Operates burn unit.
$18
hour
1040
$18,720
Solid Waste Manager: Solid Waste work is 0.5 FTE Duties similar to
Env Coordinator.
$16
hour
1040
$16,640
IGAP Environmental Coordinator: Solid waste work is 0.26 FTE and
includes recycling and backhaul (collection, preparation, shipping out
etc.), annual spring cleanup, management and coordination of solid
waste grants, work with Council on fees and protocols for solid waste,
attend trainings.
$31.50
hour
398
$12,537
Total Payroll (without fringe)
$66,617
Fringe, Social Security @ 6.2%, Medicare @1.45%, Alaska
Unemployment Security (ESC) @ 1.89% (9.54% rounded to 10%), and
Workers Compensation at an estimated 10% of total wages per Alaska
National Insurance Company.
20%

$13,323
Personnel Total
$79,940
Travel and Training
RALO or HAZWOPER Training (alternate each year)
$2,112
person
2
$4,224
AFE
$2,350
person
1
$2,350
ATCEM
$2,112
person
2
$4,224
Training Registration Fees
$550
year
2
$1,100
Training & Travel Total
$11,898
Supplies
Worker Supplies (protective gear needed to operate landfill such as
gloves, Tyvek suits, boots, goggles, masks, earplugs, and medical kit)
$2,250
Year
1
$2,250
Office Supplies (paper, pens, and printer cartridges, blank CD's or
memory sticks, billing receipt books, clip board or storage clip board)
$200
month
12
$2,400
Supplies Total
$4,650
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance
Heavy Equipment Fuel
$6.75
gallon
240
$1,620
Heavy Equipment - Parts & Maintenance
$483
annual costs
$483
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total
$2,103
Rent & Utilities
Phone Service (including long distance)
$175
month
12
$2,100
Internet Services
$150
month
12
$1,800
Fax Services
$55
month
12
$660
Utilities
$183
month
12
$2,196
Office Space
$350
month
12
$4,200
Rent and Utilities Total
$10,956
Total annual O & M Expense
$109,547
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Chapter 6: What Does A Finished Budget Look Like?
Village ID #9, in Athabascan Region, Population 256
Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual
Cost
Personnel
Heavy Equipment Operator/Maintenance Staff person: A few times a
year, this person uses heavy equipment to collect and haul gravel to the
landfill and cover the non-burnable trash.
~$16.50
hour
60
$989
Landfill Technician: A Technician works 2 hrs/day, 5 days/week plus an
additional 30 hrs a year for clean up after big community events and
occasional clean up of windblown litter (on the land and fence). He
keeps the landfill clean and organized, separates out non-burnables
from the wastestream, and loads and operates the burnbox. He does
not operate heavy equipment.
~$16.50
hour
550
$9,064
IGAP Environmental Coordinator: Solid waste administration/oversight
is performed by the Coordinator and she also handles recycling and
backhaul and picks up trash from paying households in the winter.
$17
hour
936
$15,912
IGAP Environmental Assistant: Assists with recycling and trash
collection.
$15
hour
936
$14,040
Total Payroll (without fringe)
$40,005
Fringe, inc. FICA, Workers Compensation, benefits
28%

$11,201
Personnel Total
$51,206
Travel and Training
ATCEM
$2,126
person
2
$4,252
AFE
$2,126
person
2
$4,252
HAZWOPER or other solid waste Training in Galena (5-6 days) for
Landfill Tech or Maintenance staff person
$2,200
person
1
$2,200
Training & Travel Total
$10,704
Supplies
PPE for Solid Waste Technicians (gloves, boots, masks, and also trash
bags)
$1,000
year
1
$1,000
Gravel (cover at landfill)
$60
load
30
$1,800
Supplies Total
$2,800
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance
Equipment Fuel
Heavy Equipment - Diesel
$3.78
gallon
150
$567
ATV & Snowmachine - Gasoline
$5.40
gallon
240
$1,296
ATV Oil
$148
Equipment Maintenance & Equipment Insurance
Heavy Equipment - Parts & Maintenance
$1,200
annual costs
$1,200
ATV & Snowmachine - Parts & Maintenance
$1,020
annual costs
$1,020
Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total
$4,231
Additional Indirect administrative and overhead costs
Indirect (base amount is $56,250)
0.22
%
$56,250
$12,375
Total indirect overhead expenses
$12,375
Total annual 0 & M Expense
$81,316
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Item
Unit Cost
Units
Quantity
Annual Cost
Personnel















Total Personnel (without fringe)
Total Fringe, including FICA, Workers Compensation, benefits


Total Personnel (with fringe)


Travel and Training















Training & Travel Total
Supplies















Supplies Total
Equipment Fuel, Repair, Replacement, Insurance
Equipment Fuel





Equipment Repair, Replacement, Insurance










Equipment Fuel and Maintenance Total




Rent & Utilities
Phone, fax, internet










Rent





Rent and Utilities Total
Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs










Total Backhaul Shipping and Vendor Costs
Indirect Administrative and Overhead Costs










Total Indirect overhead expenses
Total Annual 0 & M Expense
58

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59

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NOTES	Back to TOC
60

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61

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