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Scrap-metal revenue in Campbell strengthens city’s fragile finances
Photo
VanSuch
By jeanne starmack
Campbell
On an oftentimes gloomy financial horizon for the city, there’s a bright spot.
As of last month, the city had collected $86,975 in a deal with a scrap-metal collector who reclaims scrap from the brownfields on Wilson Avenue, said Mayor Bill VanSuch.
Recla Metals has been working at city-owned property since July, VanSuch said.
The mayor said he became aware of the company because it was working on property owned by the school district.
He said the city has a contract with the company, which sells the metal, keeps 70 percent of the profits and gives the city 30 percent.
Tim Lintner, a financial supervisor on a state commission that oversees the city while it is in fiscal emergency, pointed out the boost to the city’s bottom line at a meeting of the commission in December.
Sharon Hanrahan, who chairs the commission for the state’s Office of Budget Management, asked VanSuch if the city should have solicited bids for the work.
VanSuch said no, because the city is not spending any money on the reclamation.
He said the company provides all labor and equipment. “We got a little taste of what’s down there,” VanSuch said. “It will help us immensely.”
The city has been in fiscal emergency since 2004, and learned recently that it will be at least another year before it can ask for release from that status.