Commissioners seek to raise landfill generation fee with eye on closure
The nightmare that has become the Holmes County Landfill saga took a new turn recently, and it is a turn the Holmes County commissioners hope will lead toward finally putting the landfill issue to rest for good.
On Monday, August 15, the Holmes County commissioners passed a resolution to change the current $7 generation fee to the Holmes County Solid Waste Management District to a $9 generation fee, with $4 of that fee to be used by the Holmes County Solid Waste District for closure/post closure of the landfill.
The plan is to create a bond through Ross & Sinclair, a Columbus-based firm. The county has received an A1 rating from Moody’s, so it appears that the bond issue is a real possibility. The purpose of a Moody’s rating is to provide investors with a simple system of gradation by which relative creditworthiness of securities may be noted. There is a system of nine possible ratings from Moody’s, running from AAA through C, with A being the third highest. The one denotes another positive for the county, and the commissioners said that the A1 rating was very good for a county to receive.
While the commissioners do have an option to secure a grant through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they are seeking the bond from Ross & Sinclair because they can pay it off in as little as seven years if enough capital is raised, something they could not do through the EPA.
“We have worked on this for a long time, and this is what we believe is the best possible solution we have,” said Commissioner Ray Eyler. Commissioner Joe Miller said that in past years, the Holmes County Solid Waste District had employed a number of people and had an annual budget of nearly one quarter of a million dollars. Because of budget cuts, the number of employees shrank, as did the money available toward the landfill. Miller stated that in hindsight, it would have been best for the county to put money toward closure years ago, but it didn’t, and so the commissioners were left to deal with the landfill issue now at hand.
Miller also said that the county has been working closely with the EPA toward closure, and the current plan has been accepted by the EPA. Once the landfill is closed, the EPA will continue to monitor it for the next three decades to ensure that it complies with EPA regulations and no problems arise.
“The EPA has treated us very fairly,” said Miller. “They want to do the right thing as do we.”
Miller said that the $2 increase should not affect the average household very much, noting that the average homeowner creates an average of one ton of trash per year.
In addition to the generation fee, Commissioner Rob Ault said that the county will begin to get more stringent on waste management companies hauling trash out of Holmes County. Companies which haul trash generated here in Holmes County to sites outside of the county are asked to pay a percentage fee for the right to do so. Ault said that for years companies have been getting away without paying, but that is going to change as the commissioners seek to find every avenue to create funding toward closure.
“They all know the rules, they just aren’t reporting it,” said Ault. “We better be getting our money back. We are going to be following some of these companies to make sure it happens.”
Ault said that current figures state that while there is about 50,000 tons of trash being created and hauled out of the county, only 35,000 of it is being reported.
After having explored the possibilities of reopening the landfill, and meeting with an outcry from the public, which voiced concerns over local traffic and health issues, the commissioners decided that closure was the best option, and the generation fee is where they have turned.
The Solid Waste Management District established a 30-day written comment period, from August 11 through Sept. 9, on the updated solid waste management plan. A public hearing will be held Sept. 9, at 9 a.m., at the Holmes County Courthouse Common Pleas Courtroom on the third floor.
Despite being the outcome that the public desired, commissioners feel that there will be plenty of discussion at the Sept. 9 meeting.
“This is what people wanted, and it is our best option toward closure, but we still expect people to show up at the courtroom,” said Ault.
On Monday, August 15, the Holmes County commissioners passed a resolution to change the current $7 generation fee to the Holmes County Solid Waste Management District to a $9 generation fee, with $4 of that fee to be used by the Holmes County Solid Waste District for closure/post closure of the landfill.
The plan is to create a bond through Ross & Sinclair, a Columbus-based firm. The county has received an A1 rating from Moody’s, so it appears that the bond issue is a real possibility. The purpose of a Moody’s rating is to provide investors with a simple system of gradation by which relative creditworthiness of securities may be noted. There is a system of nine possible ratings from Moody’s, running from AAA through C, with A being the third highest. The one denotes another positive for the county, and the commissioners said that the A1 rating was very good for a county to receive.
While the commissioners do have an option to secure a grant through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they are seeking the bond from Ross & Sinclair because they can pay it off in as little as seven years if enough capital is raised, something they could not do through the EPA.
“We have worked on this for a long time, and this is what we believe is the best possible solution we have,” said Commissioner Ray Eyler. Commissioner Joe Miller said that in past years, the Holmes County Solid Waste District had employed a number of people and had an annual budget of nearly one quarter of a million dollars. Because of budget cuts, the number of employees shrank, as did the money available toward the landfill. Miller stated that in hindsight, it would have been best for the county to put money toward closure years ago, but it didn’t, and so the commissioners were left to deal with the landfill issue now at hand.
Miller also said that the county has been working closely with the EPA toward closure, and the current plan has been accepted by the EPA. Once the landfill is closed, the EPA will continue to monitor it for the next three decades to ensure that it complies with EPA regulations and no problems arise.
“The EPA has treated us very fairly,” said Miller. “They want to do the right thing as do we.”
Miller said that the $2 increase should not affect the average household very much, noting that the average homeowner creates an average of one ton of trash per year.
In addition to the generation fee, Commissioner Rob Ault said that the county will begin to get more stringent on waste management companies hauling trash out of Holmes County. Companies which haul trash generated here in Holmes County to sites outside of the county are asked to pay a percentage fee for the right to do so. Ault said that for years companies have been getting away without paying, but that is going to change as the commissioners seek to find every avenue to create funding toward closure.
“They all know the rules, they just aren’t reporting it,” said Ault. “We better be getting our money back. We are going to be following some of these companies to make sure it happens.”
Ault said that current figures state that while there is about 50,000 tons of trash being created and hauled out of the county, only 35,000 of it is being reported.
After having explored the possibilities of reopening the landfill, and meeting with an outcry from the public, which voiced concerns over local traffic and health issues, the commissioners decided that closure was the best option, and the generation fee is where they have turned.
The Solid Waste Management District established a 30-day written comment period, from August 11 through Sept. 9, on the updated solid waste management plan. A public hearing will be held Sept. 9, at 9 a.m., at the Holmes County Courthouse Common Pleas Courtroom on the third floor.
Despite being the outcome that the public desired, commissioners feel that there will be plenty of discussion at the Sept. 9 meeting.
“This is what people wanted, and it is our best option toward closure, but we still expect people to show up at the courtroom,” said Ault.
Published: August 22, 2011
