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Pima County plans to close the Tangerine Landfill in early 2009, leaving residents of northern Pima County few options for where to take their garbage and other trash.

There are no plans to replace it, and county officials don't know where the $6 million needed to close it in compliance with federal environmental regulations will come from.

The move also deprives the county's solid-waste-management division of its only moneymaking operation.

Once the landfill closes to the public, residents can take household trash and green waste to the Catalina Transfer Station, 20 miles to the northeast.

To drop off furniture, carpeting and debris such as dirt and rocks, they will have to head to the city-owned Los Reales Landfill, 33 miles away on the Southeast Side.

"I'll do what I have to do, but I won't like it," Bob Mertz, a Tucson landlord, said as he unloaded old furniture and other trash left by a tenant. He prefers the Tangerine Landfill because he can stop by the scrap-metal dealer at Miracle Mile and Interstate 10 on his way up, and the landfill has plenty of unloading space.

Closing the landfill will cost $9 million, two-thirds of which must come from a future bond package, which likely won't be put to the voters until November 2009.

That's just the largest of many challenges facing the county's solid-waste division, which runs four landfills, two transfer stations and five rural collection sites.

The draft budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 predicts a $2.4 million budget deficit. Anticipating the deficit, solid-waste officials asked the Board of Supervisors last year to raise fees, start collecting fees at the Ajo Landfill and the Ryan Field Transfer Station, and close some rural collection sites.

Fearing an increase in wildcat dumping, the supervisors balked at many of the proposals. They did raise commercial rates and cut service at the transfer stations to four days a week. But they kept the rural collection sites. After originally agreeing to impose a $5 to $10 fee at the Ryan Field Transfer Station, they backed off.

Residents of western Pima County pay nothing for a service that costs the county roughly $800,000 a year. Fees collected at the Catalina Transfer Station pay just a third of that facility's operating expenses. The Ina Road Landfill, which takes only tires, green waste and construction debris, and the Sahuarita Landfill cover a little more than half their costs.

No tax money goes to support county trash services.

Just a few years ago, the division ran a surplus. But Waste Management, the county's largest private hauler, stopped using the county landfill. The Sahuarita Landfill closed to commercial haulers during an expansion, reducing revenue. And costs rose while fees didn't.

The supervisors wanted an audit before agreeing to more fee increases, but a recent financial analysis by an outside consultant found few alternatives to the solid waste division's problems.

"It's not an optimistic report, but what we really need is reality, and the report is very clear on our situation," said Ursula Kramer, director of the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality, which runs the solid-waste division.

The consultant found little interest among private landfill operators or the city of Tucson in partnering with the county or contracting to run the landfills.

The consultant looked at converting the Tangerine Road Landfill into a transfer station but found there wasn't enough room on the site.

Officials are working on a series of alternatives — all involving additional service cuts and fee increases — to present to the Board of Supervisors.

"We have a lot of tough choices to make," Kramer said. "Even if we make every change we can think of to cut costs, we cannot close the gap. We can narrow it, but we cannot close it. We do provide a lot of services at no cost."

And one suggestion for narrowing the budget deficit — consolidating rural trash collection sites in western Pima County and charging those residents a fee to drop their trash at the Ryan Field Transfer Station — was rejected last year.

The supervisors originally agreed to a $5-per-truck and $10-per-trailer fee, but after hearing an outcry from residents, Supervisor Sharon Bronson asked for the fee to be removed from the final ordinance.

Resident Mark DeHaney, who lives in Three Points, west of Tucson, said many residents of western Pima County survive on less than $20,000 a year and can't afford even small fees.

"A lot of the people out here would just dump in the desert," he said. "It was made pretty clear to her (Bronson) that it would be a mess. People are pretty contrary out here."

Kramer said she shares concerns about an increase in wildcat dumping if fees get too high.

"If we charge $10 a vehicle at Ajo, we would get more revenue, but I am really concerned about the level of illegal dumping we would see," Kramer said.

Mark Miller of the Catalina Village Council said residents there are concerned about rates but more concerned about access.

Service was cut from seven days a week to four, but the residents successfully lobbied their supervisor, Ann Day, to keep green-waste collection at the Catalina Transfer Station.

"They want it to be available when they need it and be able to take the stuff they need to get rid of, like green waste," Miller said. "If they were to double fees, I think there would be an outcry, but people would grudgingly accept it. If there were any more reductions in service, you would really see an outcry."

As for the Tangerine Landfill, Kramer said the county may continue to use it for biosolids from the county's sewage treatment plants and for trash left at the Catalina Transfer Station for much of 2009, but it likely will be closed to the public and commercial haulers next January or February.

The Department of Environmental Quality has $3 million from a previous bond package to start the closure process, but it needs another $6 million to complete the job. And there will be ongoing maintenance costs even after closure.

On a recent weekday, a steady line of pickup, minivan and dump truck drivers pulled up to the Tangerine Landfill. Many didn't know the landfill was scheduled to close, while others had heard rumors but didn't know where else they would go.

"It's not going to be very convenient" to go to another landfill, said Julie Nicholas, an Oro Valley resident whose family uses the landfill a few times a year.

Robert McElroy, who lives in a rural area 15 miles west of Marana, brings his household trash to the landfill a few times a month. He doesn't want to contract with a private waste hauler for weekly service because he has so little trash.

"We're going to see a lot of people burning their trash," he said.