Staff writer
“We don’t care if you’re generating trash or not,” Deputy County Clerk Tina Spencer said Friday. “You’re paying for the transfer station like you’re paying for roads.”
Spencer was summarizing the requests of Environmental Health Director Tonya Richards and Transfer Station director Rollin Schmidt written into a draft of the county’s solid waste resolution presented to the Marion County Commission. The draft, as written would eliminate the appeals process that allows seasonal residents and residents who otherwise do not generate trash to avoid the transfer station fee.
Richards said the fee could be assessed on property taxes and apply to all property owners. The residential sanitation fee is $81.
There is a difference between commercial properties and residential properties in the requirements, with commercial properties paying a higher fee. Currently, there is no one to determine if home-based businesses apply under commercial requirements or residential. There was no decision on who would take on this responsibility.
Commissioner Roger Fleming briefly argued for a tiered charging system. Fleming owns a storage business with multiple locations in the county.
“I wouldn’t want to pay as much as Tabor College,” he said.
Schmidt said one way to address that issue would be to institute a pay-as-you-throw program, which would charge whenever trash is dumped at the station based on weight. He said such a program would undoubtedly lead to less trash being processed through the station and more ending up in ditches.
“With $50 a ton to transport, maybe we should think about it,” Schmidt said.
The draft of the solid waste resolution was sent to County Attorney Susan Robson to study any possible legal problems.
In other business:
- Commissioners saw a completed drainage system at 22 Lois Lane at Marion County Lake. Dallke requested Richards investigate a dirt pile at the front of the property because if it stays, it blocks drainage off the hill out of the subdivision.
- Sheriff Robert Craft met with the commission in a 25-minute executive session to discuss personnel. No action was taken.
- Robson told commissioners in a note that Brian Bina was appointed as a special prosecutor for the jury trial for Dawnyele Reynolds.
The next Marion County Commission meeting will be April 9.