Fremont commissioners vote to hike landfill fees - East Idaho News
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Fremont commissioners vote to hike landfill fees

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(Courtesy Rexburg Standard Journal)

Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2012. For further assistance, please contact Hope Pillsbury, EPA Office of Solid Waste, phone number: 703-308-7258, email address: pillsbury.hope@epa.gov Read more: http://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/news/fremont-commissioners-vote-to-hike-landfill-fees/article_de109e90-e3bd-11e4-84b7-d7635c511a73.html#ixzz3XabYaWCb
Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2012. For further assistance, please contact Hope Pillsbury, EPA Office of Solid Waste, phone number: 703-308-7258, email address: pillsbury.hope@epa.gov

ST. ANTHONY — Fremont County Commissioners voted unanimously on Monday to increase the landfill fees on a yearly, incremental basis of 4.99 percent each year until they have the necessary funds to cover the county’s needs for various projects related to the two landfills in the county.

Fremont County Public Works Director Brandon Harris said the county must have $2 million in two years to deal with the cell closure in St. Anthony by 2017. The landfill will still be open, but municipal garbage will begin being hauled away, instead of buried.

“That $2 million we have to have within the next two years. That’s really what’s governing the fee increase,” Harris said at a public work meeting with the commissioners on April 10.

County officials recently held a hearing to allow members of the public to comment on the proposed increases.

Those who appeared to testify at the hearing were overwhelmingly business owners from Island Park, who stated the increase would be difficult to absorb since they had already locked in a rate for their customers for this summer’s season.

Officials concluded that about 88 percent of the fees will be paid by households because there are more households than businesses in the county. Both households and businesses will pay the same rate regardless.

Harris said the county hired an engineering firm to conduct a feasibility study to come up with the correct figure the county needs for the St. Anthony site by 2017.

From the study, officials concluded it would cost the county about $2.5 million to do the cell closure.

“We have close to $500,000 right now, so that’s where the $2 million comes in,” Harris said.

He added that the increase will allow the county to add scales, computers and software to run the landfills more efficiently.

He said there could be potential to qualify for financial assistance to build the scales, but there was no assistance available for the St. Anthony cell closure, or the financial assurance funds the county is required to have in the case of an emergency.

The county is required, by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, to drill wells in multiple locations to monitor the ground water around their landfills to ensure no garbage is seeping into the ground water.

Harris said that if they’re able to find additional funding, that may have a positive impact on the fee increase.

The county is also in the process of planning for the cell closure in Island Park landfill between 2025 and 2030. Harris said he is looking into the potential of expanding the current Island Park landfill, but he is not sure that is possible.

Officials said the fee increase will go into effect in the next tax cycle.

Residents with a circuit breaker exemption may not be subject to the increases. Residents with a second home that is “not being used for profit” in Fremont County will also be exempt from paying for both homes. Owners of two homes within county limits must provide written notice to the county to avoid being charged twice.

Harris would like to have a scale in St. Anthony and in Island Park. Once the scales are in, it will allow people who are using the landfill to pay for their use of it, which will make the system fairer to all residents. All trucks and cars will be weighed on the scales.

Fremont County Commissioner LeRoy Miller said on Monday he understands that Island Park residents and business owners “provide a lot of tax dollars to the county because of where they live. We understand that, but this issue is a county one. It doesn’t matter where we live.”

This article was written by Rexburg Standard Journal Reporter Heather Randall. It is used here with permission. The article was originally published here.

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