Bond issuance will create avenue for county to close landfill for good
With the stroke of a pen, the Holmes County commissioners signed documents on Monday, Nov. 7 which will begin the process of creating an avenue to close the Holmes County Landfill once and for all.
Resolution 11-07-11-3 provides for the issuance and sale of bonds in the maximum principal amount of $2.6 million for the purpose of paying costs of improving the Holmes County Solid Waste Management District by providing funds for the closure of the Holmes County Landfill.
The closure will be achieved by the creation of a cap system consisting of recompacted soil, a geomembrane and a geocomposite drainage layer with a vegetative soil overlay. In addition, it will include perimeter drainage channels, a landfill gas ventilation system, revegetating disturbed areas, the installation of signage and lockable access gates, among other improvements.
On Monday, Nov. 7, the Holmes County board of commissioners met with Joseph Robertson, director of Ohio Public Finances with Ross, Sinclaire & Associates out of Columbus, and Michael Sharb, attorney from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, to hammer out details that would allow the process of creating the issuance and sale of the $2.6 million bonds.
“It’s not a matter of if the bonds are sold, but rather one of when the bonds are sold,” said Robertson to the commissioners. “This should get you to where you want to go with the landfill closure.”
Once the bonds are issued, the county’s first payment on the bond’s interest will be June 1, 2012, while the first payment on the bond’s principal will be made Dec. 1, 2012. The commissioners said that the amount paid toward the bonds per year can be conservatively estimated to be around $150,000.
An official resolution to close the landfill is not yet present, and the commissioners will wait until the bond issues have been taken care of before they officially sign that highly anticipated resolution.
The funds for the repayment of the bonds will be procured from the generation fees of $9 per person of waste products for Holmes County residents, four dollars of which will go directly toward closure. The remaining five dollars will go toward the continued expenses incurred in the recycling program.
What the commissioners want the public to know is a pretty simple fact.
“This will mean no additional money to the taxpayers,” said Commissioner Joe Miller. “We estimate that the county will generate between $400,000 and $450,000 per year through the generation fees, and while the recycling comes out of that, there should be more than enough to easily make the bond payments.”
In addition to the bonds creating funds to eventually close the landfill, the commissioners also recently saved $348,000 by refinancing the former bonds created in 1993 at a much lower rate. The initial rate was nine percent, and by refinancing to today’s rates at four percent, they were able to save a huge amount of money.
But the biggest issue was the bonds, aimed at closure of a landfill that has been front and center for this group of county commissioners for a long time.
“Right now we are trying to play catch-up,” said Commissioner Rob Ault. “We should have been putting money away for this closure for years. Heck, we never should have even gotten into this contract with the landfill, but we did, and here it is, and now we are paying for it. With these new bonds, and with the generation fee in place, we will now have waste paying for waste, which is the way it should be.”
The commissioners hope to have the bonds in place by early December, and once the bonds are in place, they expect that it should take about one year to officially close the landfill, which is currently open but not in operation.
Once the bonds are in place, the county will go through a bidding process with contractors, with an eye on beginning the steps toward closure.
Once the landfill is officially closed, the county will be responsible to the Ohio EPA to monitor the landfill over the next three decades, something that Ault said would cost the county approximately $65,000 to $70,000 annually.
Much like the bond repayment, those funds will continue to come out of the solid waste generation fees.
“The first couple of years are the most important once we finally officially close the landfill, but we feel like we are heading in a very good direction,” said Ault.
“This is something that should have taken place a long, long time ago,” agreed Commissioner Ray Eyler.
Resolution 11-07-11-3 provides for the issuance and sale of bonds in the maximum principal amount of $2.6 million for the purpose of paying costs of improving the Holmes County Solid Waste Management District by providing funds for the closure of the Holmes County Landfill.
The closure will be achieved by the creation of a cap system consisting of recompacted soil, a geomembrane and a geocomposite drainage layer with a vegetative soil overlay. In addition, it will include perimeter drainage channels, a landfill gas ventilation system, revegetating disturbed areas, the installation of signage and lockable access gates, among other improvements.
On Monday, Nov. 7, the Holmes County board of commissioners met with Joseph Robertson, director of Ohio Public Finances with Ross, Sinclaire & Associates out of Columbus, and Michael Sharb, attorney from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, to hammer out details that would allow the process of creating the issuance and sale of the $2.6 million bonds.
“It’s not a matter of if the bonds are sold, but rather one of when the bonds are sold,” said Robertson to the commissioners. “This should get you to where you want to go with the landfill closure.”
Once the bonds are issued, the county’s first payment on the bond’s interest will be June 1, 2012, while the first payment on the bond’s principal will be made Dec. 1, 2012. The commissioners said that the amount paid toward the bonds per year can be conservatively estimated to be around $150,000.
An official resolution to close the landfill is not yet present, and the commissioners will wait until the bond issues have been taken care of before they officially sign that highly anticipated resolution.
The funds for the repayment of the bonds will be procured from the generation fees of $9 per person of waste products for Holmes County residents, four dollars of which will go directly toward closure. The remaining five dollars will go toward the continued expenses incurred in the recycling program.
What the commissioners want the public to know is a pretty simple fact.
“This will mean no additional money to the taxpayers,” said Commissioner Joe Miller. “We estimate that the county will generate between $400,000 and $450,000 per year through the generation fees, and while the recycling comes out of that, there should be more than enough to easily make the bond payments.”
In addition to the bonds creating funds to eventually close the landfill, the commissioners also recently saved $348,000 by refinancing the former bonds created in 1993 at a much lower rate. The initial rate was nine percent, and by refinancing to today’s rates at four percent, they were able to save a huge amount of money.
But the biggest issue was the bonds, aimed at closure of a landfill that has been front and center for this group of county commissioners for a long time.
“Right now we are trying to play catch-up,” said Commissioner Rob Ault. “We should have been putting money away for this closure for years. Heck, we never should have even gotten into this contract with the landfill, but we did, and here it is, and now we are paying for it. With these new bonds, and with the generation fee in place, we will now have waste paying for waste, which is the way it should be.”
The commissioners hope to have the bonds in place by early December, and once the bonds are in place, they expect that it should take about one year to officially close the landfill, which is currently open but not in operation.
Once the bonds are in place, the county will go through a bidding process with contractors, with an eye on beginning the steps toward closure.
Once the landfill is officially closed, the county will be responsible to the Ohio EPA to monitor the landfill over the next three decades, something that Ault said would cost the county approximately $65,000 to $70,000 annually.
Much like the bond repayment, those funds will continue to come out of the solid waste generation fees.
“The first couple of years are the most important once we finally officially close the landfill, but we feel like we are heading in a very good direction,” said Ault.
“This is something that should have taken place a long, long time ago,” agreed Commissioner Ray Eyler.
Published: November 8, 2011
