No increase yet for district fee

An increase in the rate for a main source of revenue for the county solid waste district won't come until summer at the earliest.

Members of the Jay County Waste District, who have spent more than the district has received each month for nearly a year, agreed Monday to reconsider an increase in the district tipping fee in June.

That fee, a per-ton amount collected and paid to the district by Jay County Landfill operator Waste Management of Indiana, is currently $1.25 per ton.

The fee was lowered to that amount from $1.50 per ton more than two years ago at the request of landfill officials.

A lengthy discussion that included input from the local landfill manager, board members and a county resident who was the director of a now-defunct three county solid waste district ended with board members putting off any decision.

"The (lowering of the) tipping fee has helped us out over the years ... we had three good years," said Barry Ledbetter, a district manager for Waste Management who oversees operations at Jay County. "Now the economy has slowed down. An increase in the tipping fee would affect us to some extent."

He said the lower fee helps the landfill be competitive in bidding for contract work.

But Carter Leonard, who lives near the landfill and who was director of the Mideast Indiana Solid Waste District (including Jay, Blackford and Wells counties), said the district's goal of reducing waste and promoting recycling outweighs the needs of the landfill.

"The purpose of this organization is to reduce the amount going into landfills," Leonard said. "If one quarter per ton puts it over the (competive) edge, you've got some problems elsewhere," he said, addressing Ledbetter and other landfill officials.

Bill Gibson, a member of the board, pointed out that if the tipping fee was at its previous $1.50 per ton level, the district would have made more than it spent in March.

The district, which a year ago had more than $60,000 in checking and more than $100,000 in an investment account, recently borrowed from that savings fund to pay monthly expenses. District expenses only exceeded income by a about $2,000 in March (see figures below) but the district checking balance is down to $19,850.46 and the investment account balance is $82,598.10.

Leonard said that some of those operating Saturday drop-off recycling trailers funded by the district recently told him they were under the impression the district planned to shut down recycling later this year. He said that an increase in the tipping fee would inspire confidence in the community that the district intends to remain viable.

"I don't know where anybody is getting the idea that we're going to close. You did the right thing in coming here," board member Jim Zimmerman told Leonard.

"There's no merit to the rumors (of closing)," added board member Bruce Hosier.

Milo Miller Jr., the president of the district board and also president of Jay County Commissioners, said that his goal is to find a tipping fee level that allows both the district and the landfill to be financially sound.

Miller did not say it Monday, but has said in the past that he would not vote to fund district operations with county income or property tax funds.

Board member Dan Orr pointed out that while the district lowered its tipping fee and has kept it at that rate for more than two years, the landfill has annually raised its "gate rate," or the fee charged for a pick-up load of trash. The landfill's contract rates, or amounts charged for large-scale projects, have remained virtually flat over that same period, a landfill official said.

In other business, board members Bill Gibson, Miller, Hosier, Zimmerman and Orr:

•Approved monthly claims, or bills, totaling $17,253.81. The district received tipping fee incoming of $15,722 in March, based on 12,704.99 tons of trash deposited in the landfill. If the fee was raised to $1.50 per ton, district income would have been a little more than $19,000.

•Heard district director Kay Hayes report that she has checked into the situation with large recycling containers at all county schools. The board had asked Hayes to determine if the frequency of pick-up of those containers could be decreased. "They were all full. I don't know that we're going to be able to cut down on that (pick up)," Hayes said. BestWay, a Randolph County-based company that picks up and hauls the containers, has proposed an increase and adjustment of the rates for that service. The proposed increase will be discussed by the board at its May meeting.[[In-content Ad]]