Islanders who self-haul could soon be paying as much as 44 percent more to unload garbage and trash at the three county-run transfer stations.

Unless, that is, county officials can come up with a different formula for funding a solid-waste operation that’s awash in red ink and has little means of covering a number of large and looming expenses waiting down the road. If not, self-haul customers would pay about $11 a can rather than the $8-per-can fee paid today.

Of immediate concern, according to Public Works Director Jon Shannon, is generating enough revenue to offset a precipitous drop in the amount of garbage collected at the transfer stations and, at the same time, financing a list of improvements required at the Sutton Road station on San Juan Island by the state. A blueprint for raising additional revenue must be in place by the end of the month regardless of what form it takes, Shannon said.

“We’re in a situation where we can no longer spend in the red,” he said. “It’s the first time in my 10 years that we’re going into a month without the revenue to get through it.”

In the past 17 months, the amount of garbage, and the revenue that would have been collected through tipping fees, has fallen off by roughly 2,000 tons, the equivalent of four million pounds, according to Public Works.

As of Tuesday, however, the County Council gave no clear indication as to which option it prefers following a presentation of four funding alternatives by Public Works. The options will be back before the council when it meets Jan. 12 and a decision is expected at its meeting on Jan. 26.

Under consideration are alternatives that range from an escalation of the existing system, in which roughly 98 percent of the solid-waste division’s operational and capital costs are paid for by tipping fees, to seeking voter-approval on a countywide tax that would have property owners paying 21-25 cents per $1,000 of assessed value each year and tipping fees ratcheted down from where they are today.

A funding option endorsed by the Solid Waste Advisory Committee calls for a combination of increased tipping fees, a parcel fee ($48 for developed and $24 for undeveloped), a $5 gate fee, and a $20 per-ton waste-reduction fee. Tipping fees would drop under the so-called “Simplified Model”, while parcel fees would be $94 a year whether developed or not. The Town of Friday Harbor would pay roughly $72,000 a year to help offset the cost of building a new transfer station on San Juan Island under every option but a continuation of the “status quo”.

Under each option, Shannon said tipping fees and parcel fees will depend on what type of facility the council chooses for the future of Sutton Road. A full-scale facility with a wide range services, similar to those of today, will require higher fees. Fees would be somewhat less for a smaller facility with fewer services, he said.

Still, he said that the financial health of the solid-waste operation may well depend on whether the council choses to continue funding it primarily through tipping fees. He noted that the over-riding goal of the county solid-waste management plan, “reduce, reuse and recycle”, is in conflict with the means by which the operation generates revenue, through tipping fees.

“I think those two things in any person’s brain would appear to be contradictory,” he said. “I think everyone understands the problem.”