City could get recycling help

The city of Portland could receive a larger grant next year to support its recycling program.
But the board of the Jay County Solid Waste District would like to see greater clarity about how the dollars are spent.
“They’re doing a good job recycling in the city of Portland,” said waste district president Milo Miller Jr. at the board’s Monday meeting.
Currently, the city receives a grant of $10,000 per year from the waste district to help underwrite its recycling program. That would jump to $15,000 in 2014 under a tentative budget proposal of $210,415 approved unanimously by the board Monday.
But with that proposed increase came a request for greater transparency from board member Jim Zimmerman.
“That’s fair,” said board member Bill Gibson, also a member of the Portland City Council.
Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman agreed.
“I can promise you we can show the money goes into recycling and comes out for recycling,” Geesaman said. “We can show you the line item. We can definitely do that for you.”
Carter Leonard, speaking on behalf of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the district, urged the city to be more creative in promoting recycling and making the public aware of the costs of trash sent to the Jay County Landfill.
The tentative budget proposal will be forwarded to county auditor Nancy Culy to be incorporated into the larger Jay County budget for next year. The total amount is down slightly from the $212,775 level for this year.
“As long as we can maintain 10,000 tons a month (at the landfill), we’ll have the revenue to support that budget,” said Miller. The waste district budget is funded by tipping fees at the landfill rather than by property tax dollars.
In other business:
•District education specialist Bettie Jacobs noted the waste district will have a booth at the Jay County Fair in July.
•Geesaman noted there had been a positive response to a recent flyer sent out to Portland residents about the recycling program, with two dozen requests for recycling bins. “We had a tremendous response,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]