JCSWCD funding OK'd (6/28/05)

A change of heart meant a change in next year’s budget even before it was read.

Members of the Jay County Solid Waste District Board of Directors, who said no last year to a plea for money from the county soil and water conservation district, said yes on Monday, agreeing to a grant of $10,000 for 2006 operating expenses.

That action, taken Monday during the waste district board’s monthly meeting, forced an increase in the district’s 2006 budget before it was approved on first reading. The second reading and approval is scheduled for the district’s July 18 meeting.

That budget, which includes requests for a total of $223,960, was actually decreased from current year amounts because of an expected decline in revenue. Based on current revenue, the district is expected to generate revenue of about $215,000 in 2006.

Cuts in state funding have left the Jay County Soil and Water Conservation District short on funding, Carl Walker, chairman of the conservation district’s local board, told waste district board members Monday.

The operating budget for the conservation district’s efforts to prevent soil erosion and improve water quality in 2006 is approximately $25,000.

Gerald Kirby, a member of the waste district board who was most adamant in his opposition to the request for funding last year from the soil and water district, said Monday that he had changed his mind.

“It may be justified. I have mellowed a little bit,” said Kirby, who still wondered, “Are we opening the floodgates to a real problem?”

Kay Hayes, executive director of the waste district, pointed out the potential budget impact of the decision. But with approximately $137,000 in the waste district’s checking account, board members Faron Parr, Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, Bill Gibson and Kirby approved a $10,000 grant to the soil and water conservation district.

The biggest expenses in the 2006 waste district budget are those related to the district’s Saturday drop-off recycling program. An estimated $56,000 will be paid to Waste Management for hauling expenses, while $29,000 has been budgeted to pay $150 to local groups which staff the sites.

Other big ticket items include $25,000 for a household hazardous waste collection day, and salaries of $31,930 for Hayes and $21,630 for Jill Cochran, the administrative/financial assistant for the district.

Also Monday, the board tabled action after opening three bids to provide services for the household hazardous waste collection day in October.

Only NuGenesis of Mooresville appeared to submit a bid as requested in specifications prepared by Hayes. NuGenesis has been the company hired by the district the past several years for the annual collection of hazardous waste.

Two other companies — Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Chicago, and Onyx Environmental of East Chicago — submitted bids that listed prices based on the amount of each item collected.

The board asked Hayes to consult with district attorney Brad Burkett in reviewing the bid specifications and bids.

In other business Monday, district board members:

•Gave Hayes the authority to decide whether to establish a second Saturday for drop-off recycling in Redkey. The request for a second date came from the newly-formed Redkey Optimist Club, Hayes said.

•Approved claims of $16,934.44, leaving the district with a checking account balance if $137,991.43.

•Learned that district income for May was $19,898, based on 16,079.9 tons of trash deposited in the Jay County Landfill during the month. The district is paid $1.25 per ton as a district tipping fee.

Leon Leach, a district manager for Waste Management, the local landfill owner/operator, said once again Monday that he expects volume at the landfill to increase over the coming months. Last fall, members of the district board voted to reduce the district fee to $1.25 from $1.50, with Leach saying he believed an increase in volume could give the district approximately the same amount of revenue.

Since the lower fee went into affect in October, the cumulative average tonnage deposited in the landfill has increased to 14,365 from 13,929.

At the lower $1.25 rate, that translates into a monthly drop in revenue of $2,937 for the district.

•Were told by Hayes that an Ohio company which was hired by the district to grind ice storm debris in Portland and Jay County is scheduled to return to a county collection site in July to complete work on the project. The company spent about a week at a Portland collection site, with the district paying a bill of more than $19,000.

Hayes estimates the total cost of the grinding will be about $25,000, with reimbursement for 75 percent of that cost expected from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.[[In-content Ad]]