To the Editor:
The often EPA-cited, unlined Holmes County Landfill must be closed. The commissioners’ proposed Rumpke plan would instead turn it into a ‘mega-landfill’, making Holmes County the place other counties and states send their waste. This would radically change Holmes County, dramatically increasing the number of garbage trucks in our towns and roads, increasing road maintenance fees and damaging our wonderful tourism industry. The odor from a large, regional landfill of this type could very well permeate through nearby towns and communities. It would destroy much of the beauty and peace that so many Holmes County residents currently enjoy.
Holmes County residents and businesses would be required to dispose of their waste in this mega-landfill and pay higher rates for that disposal than would otherwise be necessary. Rumpke will be responsible for closing the landfill only if it chooses to expand the landfill and reap millions from 35 years of dumping out-of-county and out-of-state waste in Holmes County. They could leave after three to five years and we would be right back where we are today. This is not a solution.
There are better ways to handle this. A local company has offered two alternatives. The first would be for them to operate the landfill until the present space is filled (three to five years) and then do the environmentally prescribed closure at no cost to the county. The second and quickest way is to close the landfill at a cost of $1.8 million ($3.2 million below the commissioners’ claims). A one-year sales tax increase of 1/2 of one percent would pay for the closure of the landfill and cover the first 10-15 years of its maintenance costs. Currently, 62 counties have higher tax rates than Holmes County, while only five are lower. Even with this slight increase, 48 counties’ tax rates would be as high or higher and only 39 would be lower. Because of our wonderful tourism industry, roughly 40 percent of this would be paid for by out of county residents.
When compared to the damaging effects a mega-landfill would have on Holmes County, this is not extreme. It is a slight, one-year only increase to pay for a one-time problem. And it is the quickest, cheapest, and least painful way to close this problem landfill and keep what makes Holmes County great.
Charles Cerniglia
Holmesville
Holmes County residents and businesses would be required to dispose of their waste in this mega-landfill and pay higher rates for that disposal than would otherwise be necessary. Rumpke will be responsible for closing the landfill only if it chooses to expand the landfill and reap millions from 35 years of dumping out-of-county and out-of-state waste in Holmes County. They could leave after three to five years and we would be right back where we are today. This is not a solution.
There are better ways to handle this. A local company has offered two alternatives. The first would be for them to operate the landfill until the present space is filled (three to five years) and then do the environmentally prescribed closure at no cost to the county. The second and quickest way is to close the landfill at a cost of $1.8 million ($3.2 million below the commissioners’ claims). A one-year sales tax increase of 1/2 of one percent would pay for the closure of the landfill and cover the first 10-15 years of its maintenance costs. Currently, 62 counties have higher tax rates than Holmes County, while only five are lower. Even with this slight increase, 48 counties’ tax rates would be as high or higher and only 39 would be lower. Because of our wonderful tourism industry, roughly 40 percent of this would be paid for by out of county residents.
When compared to the damaging effects a mega-landfill would have on Holmes County, this is not extreme. It is a slight, one-year only increase to pay for a one-time problem. And it is the quickest, cheapest, and least painful way to close this problem landfill and keep what makes Holmes County great.
Charles Cerniglia
Holmesville
Published: June 29, 2011
