Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Shawano County is asking some towns and villages to help pay for the county’s financially ailing landfill, even if they send their trash elsewhere.
County officials say the municipalities all signed long-term contracts to use the landfill, and that sluggish participation is contributing to the losses exceeding $200,000 a year. Municipal leaders question why they should be held responsible for a landfill that is not serving their local residents or businesses.
County Planner Christa Hoffman said the new payment plan proposed this spring to 11 municipalities is designed to encourage them to fulfill their obligations to the county-owned landfill.
“They had agreed to be part of the operation,” Hoffman said. “We’re looking to come up with cooperative solutions.”
Some town and village officials are scratching their heads about the proposal, under which they would pay $8 a ton for waste that goes from their communities to other landfills.
Mattoon Village President Brian Owen voiced uncertainty both about how the new payment plan was developed and about why his community should pay.
“It’s just not making any sense,” he said.
The county’s Solid Waste Management Board met Tuesday with representatives of the 11 municipalities, which also include the villages of Birnamwood and Tigerton and the towns of Almon, Aniwa, Birnamwood, Fairbanks, Germania, Seneca, Waukechon and Wittenberg.
Despite loud opposition from some local officials, the board voted to continue making plans to impose the new fee starting in January.
An audit presented at Tuesday’s meeting showed the landfill was $227,000 in the red last year, largely because revenues have failed to keep pace with debt payments.
County officials say the revenue problem is directly related to towns and villages opting to send their trash elsewhere.
“We’ve been unable to bridge that gap,” said Eddie Sheppard, public works director for the city of Shawano.
In a longstanding partnership, the landfill is owned by the county and operated by the city. After an expansion in 2010, the estimated 45-acre landfill on the city’s east side is expected to reach its capacity within about five years.
The county also has struck a partnership to transfer some waste to the Marathon County landfill in Ringle. When municipal leaders learned that trash was ending up in Marathon County, some started hauling it there directly, bypassing Shawano County.
Birnamwood Village President Michael Sprague said the county now seems to be trying to recoup revenue lost because of its own practice of “diverting” waste to another county.
“None of us feel that they should be able to collect a fee for waste that isn’t going into their landfill,” Sprague said.
Shawano County officials, however, contend that the towns and villages are obligated under long-term contracts to use the Shawano County landfill as long as it operates. In letters sent to all 11 municipalities this spring, the county proposed the fee of $8 per ton for any municipality that hauls waste to a different landfill.
The letter indicated that if the towns and villages agree, the county would not seek any compensation retroactively for past lost revenue.
“This is a reasonable, equitable and fair compromise,” the letter stated.
At Tuesday’s meeting, county officials also indicated a willingness to earmark the new revenue for debt payments and to stop the new fee when the debts are paid off, expected to happen in 2020.
County Corporation Counsel Tony Kordus urged officials at Tuesday’s meeting to remember that they all share responsibility for the landfill.
“We all have to work together,” Kordus said. “The only way we do that is put together a plan that everybody chips in.”