Lewis County mulls raising tipping fee to $70 a ton

LOWVILLE — Lewis County solid waste officials on Tuesday asked legislators to consider a tipping-fee increase of $4 per ton to start on the road toward self-sufficiency.

However, one lawmaker floated an initial $14.50-per-ton hike to get there faster.

"I know it's a huge increase," Legislator Philip C. Hathway, R-Harrisville, a member of the legislative Solid Waste Committee, said during Tuesday's committee-of-the-whole meeting. "I just feel we need to get in the real world."

A recent study by Syracuse engineering firm Barton & Loguidice — funded by the Development Authority of the North Country — indicated that county tipping fees are not high enough to provide a self-sustaining system. The 2010 county budget anticipates a nearly $65,000 shortfall to be covered by taxpayer dollars, and no money is being set aside for future equipment purchases or capital upgrades.

DANC charges a tipping fee of $39 per ton to its member counties and commercial haulers who signed multiyear deals.

Lewis County charges $66 per ton for most garbage brought to its Lowville transfer site and $25 per cubic yard at its Croghan site, which doesn't have a scale. It adds a $7-per-ton surcharge on direct-hauled trash. By comparison, St. Lawrence County began charging $105 per ton in January.

The current fee schedule — including higher costs for construction debris and other non-household waste — generates about $75 per ton, while an average tipping fee over the next 15 years of about $116 per ton would be needed for a self-sustaining system, the study states.

"If we start with a small increase, that's more accepted by everyone involved," Peter J. Wood, the county's transfer station foreman, told legislators.

Increasing the general per-ton tipping fee from $66 to $70 and the rest of the fee schedule accordingly would generate about $22,500 extra each year, he said.

And with recyclables selling for much higher than last year, Mr. Wood said, revenues this year should come in about $90,000 higher than expected.

Unbudgeted revenues at the end of the year could be set aside in a capital reserve fund, with future incremental fee hikes bolstering that fund and moving toward self-sufficiency, he said.

Alternatives like accepting about 1,000 tons per year of St. Lawrence County's recyclables, exporting recyclables to an outside processing facility or having DANC or a private hauling firm oversee solid waste operations also were explored in the study.

Processing St. Lawrence County recyclables could be accomplished mainly through schedule adjustments, with relatively little added cost, Mr. Wood said.

Lewis County makes about $100,000 per year from the sale of about 1,000 tons of its own recyclables, so the addition of the same amount from St. Lawrence County should theoretically double those revenues, he said.

Following the staff presentation, Mr. Hathway said that, by his calculations, self-sufficiency could be attained through a per-ton fee hike to $80.50 this year, then $95 in 2012.

While the Barton & Loguidice study suggested that $300,000 be set aside each year for capital reserves, Mr. Hathway said $157,500 per year should suffice, since it would equate to 10 percent of total Solid Waste equipment value.

The Solid Waste Committee will continue to discuss the matter next week.