Las Virgenes and Triunfo water district officials are giving a close look at the cost of running the Rancho Las Virgenes composting facility to determine whether the disposal of the area’s wastewater byproducts is being performed efficiently.

“The operations to produce compost from biosolids are beneficial for the community, but costs have escalated, so we want to take a look at the current op- erations and compare them to other alternatives,” said Mike Paule, Triunfo board chair.

Officials agreed to look into whether they should hire a private company to perform a cost-benefit analysis.

The $50-million composting facility in Calabasas is a joint venture between the water agencies working as a joint powers authority.

The Rancho composting facility was built in 1993 to convert biosolids, which are removed from the sewage at the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility, into a nutrientrich soil amendment. Triunfo pays a third of the Rancho costs.

The district sells about 50 percent of the finished compost to companies in bulk, and distributes another 30 percent to the public at no charge. Profits are nominal because production is expensive and demand is seasonal. Much of the compost winds up being hauled away by a private contractor.

At a recent joint board meeting, Triunfo board members Paule and Janna Orkney requested a analysis comparing the expense of composting to the cost of hauling the sewage to the Toland landfill in Santa Paula, where it would be dried and used to cover garbage.

“I want to look at the (joint powers) composting plant again to see if it still makes sense cost-wise and environmentally,” Orkney said.

Rancho Las Virgenes produces about 325 tons of compost per month, said Carlos Reyes, director of resource conservation for the Las Virgenes water district.

Composting in the 2008-09 budget year cost about $300 per wet ton, or $1.9 million, up from $1.4 million four years earlier.

The increase is mostly due to increases in labor, electricity, chemicals and other supplies, Reyes said.

But Orkney believes the overall cost to digest, dry and make the compost at the Rancho Las Virgenes site is about $5 million.

Using 2008 figures, shipping the compost to the Toland landfill could reduce the per ton cost from $300 to about $52, Orkney said.

The projected cost in the 2010- 11 fiscal year is $381 per ton, she said.

Mark Lawler, general manager for Triunfo and the Ventura County Sanitation District, which owns the Toland landfill, said transporting the biosolids to the dump could save ratepayers between $1.5 million and $2 million.

“The Rancho facility is starting to approach the end of its useful life, so we need to analyze options looking forward,” Lawler said.

The arrangement will require approval from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors because about two-thirds of the waste material at Rancho comes from Los Angeles County, while the landfill is in Ventura County, he said.

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District representatives Glen Peterson and Lee Renger voted against a compost study.

“To me, it didn’t make sense to spend about $200,000 for this,” Peterson said.

“I’m not opposed to the analysis, but I think our staff can do it in-house, and they are always analyzing what they do anyway. The problem is lack of trust from the Triunfo board,” Peterson said.

Renger said the proposed cost analysis is flawed because it doesn’t take into account the environmental benefits of composting. Renger added that the proposal to transport biosolids to Toland will create additional costs by requiring a new loading dock at the Rancho site.