July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Finances a concern for waste district

Jay County Solid Waste District

Since its formation more than seven years ago, funding has seldom been an issue for the Jay County Solid Waste District.

With each passing month, that is beginning to change.

The district, which still has a healthy cushion invested, may have to draw on those reserves in the near future, as income from tipping fees collected on trash deposited in the Jay County Landfill continues to lag behind month-to-month expenses.

"The bank (checking account) balance is going down," district director Kay Hayes told board members Faron Parr, Dan Orr, Bill Gibson and Milo Miller Jr. at Monday's board meeting.

Board members approved two months worth of bills for payment Monday; the board's October meeting was not held because only three members were present.

The claims (bills) OK'd by the board included $41,598 for October and $19,002.97 for the current month. The October totals included a $24,000 payment to NuGenesis, the company contracted to collect and haul away materials for the district's annual household hazardous waste collection day. In the past two months, the district had more than $60,000 in expenses and a little more than $34,000 in income.

Although the $24,000 claim happens only one time per year, the long-term trend has been for expenses topping income.

The district is funded by a $1.25 per ton fee on trash deposited in the Jay County Landfill.

That fee is collected and paid to the district by landfill owner/operator Waste Management of Indiana.

Board members have floated the possibility of increasing that fee to $1.50 per ton. That was the fee from the time of the district's formation in 2002 until it was reduced to the current level in 2007.

Board members Monday also gave Hayes permission to draw from the district's investment account, if necessary, for monthly claims. That account has a balance of $102,511.88.

Barry Ledbetter, a regional manager for Waste Management who oversees operations at Jay County, said that tonnage levels should hold steady or decrease slightly over the winter.

Also Monday, Hayes said that collections at the hazardous waste day increased by about a ton over 2008 levels.

In other business Monday, waste district board members:

See District page 2

Continued from page 1

•Learned that a recently-completed audit by the State Board of Accounts was relatively clean, with just a few minor problems. Those problems were quickly reviewed and fixed, said Hayes.

•Heard Hayes report that a contract swap between BestWay Recycling and Rumpke will leave BestWay with the contract to collect recyclable materials from schools in Jay County. The district pays the cost of collection of the materials, which are collected by school staff and students and deposited in large bins.

Orr, a former teacher in the school system, said Monday he would like to see an incentive in place to encourage an increase in recycling volume at the schools - especially Jay County High School.

[[In-content Ad]]
PORTLAND WEATHER

Events

November

SU
MO
TU
WE
TH
FR
SA
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
SAT
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

To Submit an Event Sign in first

Today's Events

No calendar events have been scheduled for today.

250 X 250 AD