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Landfill spikes SWMD budget |
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Friday, 13 November 2009 |
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
The addition of three line items to the 2010 Solid Waste Management District’s appropriations is spiking the county refuse and recycling organization’s budget.
The Auglaize County Commissioners and Solid Waste District Coordinator Dave Reichelderfer reviewed the 2010 budget, which
jumps to $673,696 from $540,933, a 24.5 percent increase. The increase is to be offset by the improved parcel fee, which went into effect earlier this year.
“The only reason for the large increase is the implementation of the improved parcel fee which went into effect to pay the debt incurred by the General Fund to pay the city of St. Marys for groundwater monitoring fees at the landfill per a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court against the Auglaize County Solid Waste District,” Commissioner Doug Spencer said. “The nearly 25 percent increase is a result of paying back the General Fund for the money that had been advanced to the county’s Solid Waste District.”
The Solid Waste District is to pay $120,000 to the county’s General Fund each year for the next 16 years to pay the $2.066 million advanced to the district to pay the city of St. Marys for groundwater monitoring fees and their legal fees. The Solid Waste District stopped paying groundwater monitoring costs when a 15-year agreement ended in 2000.
The city of St. Marys paid for groundwater monitoring costs while a civil case between the city and Solid Waste District advanced from common pleas court to district appellate court to the Supreme Court of Ohio. A civil suit was filed May 2002, and the Supreme Court issued its ruling in October 2007.
The Solid Waste District also must pay $40,000 to the county General Fund to cover the district’s legal and attorney fees accumulated during the civil case. The county hired Eastman & Smith of Toledo in the case.
Another part of the increase is budgeting $105,000 for groundwater monitoring costs in 2010. The cost is likely to increase in future years.
“The parcel fee will cover the $160,000 plus groundwater monitoring fees in 2010 which is $105,000 now and more likely in the future,” Spencer said. “The repayment schedule is over a 16-year period.”
The commissioners instituted a $20 parcel improvement fee earlier this year. The fee was initially collected on the July real estate assessments to residents, but it will be collected in February this year and each subsequent year it is enforced.
The parcel fee, which is collected on parcels improved with at least one permanent, portable or temporary building where solid waste is likely to be produced, is expected to generate $386,000 each year for the district.
The Solid Waste District organizes recycling efforts throughout the county. It also assists with refuse collection.
The district operates by collecting $9 per ton of waste in generation fees collected at landfills or transfer stations in Ohio where the refuse is delivered. The district also receives money through the sale of recyclables.
The remaining line items in the 2010 appropriations are the same as those proposed for 2009.
Salaries for five employees remains steady at $179,830 along with related salary items such as Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) at $25,177, worker’s compensation at $5,395 and Medicare at $2,608. Hospitalization actually decreases to $62,000 in 2010 from $65,000 in 2009.
Supplies and equipment remain the same from 2009 to 2010 at $35,000 and $20,000, respectively. Travel does not change at $1,500, nor does other expenses change from $900.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 16 November 2009 )
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