Landfill to pay separately for out-of-county waste
By Howard Greninger
The Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE, IN - A contract agreement revision with Sycamore Ridge Landfill Inc. will pay Vigo County a fee for waste generated within 100 miles of the county courthouse and a separate fee for waste outside the radius.
County Commissioner Judith Anderson said the county’s Board of Commissioners last week voted to approve a new contract with the landfill, but had sought some revisions. “We were pleased they came back with this,” Anderson said.
The landfill will pay a per-ton fee known as a “host community fee,” as the landfill and its waste is located in the county. The revision will increase the host fee 2 cents per ton, and increase the host fee 2 percent per year beginning Jan. 1, 2008.
Sycamore Ridge Landfill will pay the county 27 cents per ton of waste generated from an Indiana county within a 100-mile radius of the courthouse as the community host fee. The landfill also will pay the county 50 cents per ton for waste generated outside that radius as a supplemental host fee.
The Clay-Owen-Vigo Solid Waste District currently collects 25 cents per ton of waste disposed at the landfill, currently used to pay for programs such as collecting and disposing of batteries or large appliances. The contract revision still contains a clause that reduces the host fee to Vigo County, should the solid waste district elect to increase its collection fee.
The host fee will generate slightly more than the $250,000 anticipated annually, Anderson said. That amount is based on having at least 1 million tons of waste disposed of in the landfill annually.
The new contract removes a Vigo County taxpayer subsidy of the landfill, but also removes caps contained in a prior contract placed on disposal charges at the landfill.
“They can increase their disposal charges, but they tell us it will not be exorbitant,” Anderson said.
Republic Services Inc. is the Florida-based parent company of Sycamore Ridge Landfill Inc., at 12247 S. Mill St. in southern Vigo County. Republic Services is the third-largest solid waste management company in the United States, behind Waste Management and Allied Waste Industries.
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