Dodging disposal fees

Thanks to funding from the Wyoming State Loans and Investment Board (SLIB), the Upper Platte River Solid Waste District (Landfill board) announced at its Wednesday meeting that it will now be able to build a new transfer station and close the existing landfill on schedule. The board also discussed a future rate increase, but did not vote on the raise.

The funding provided by SLIB comes in form of a grant for $1.125 million, and a 20-year zero-interest loan for $375,000. The loan was arranged by SLIB for the Landfill board, Craig McOmie, program manager at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality said. The proportion of loan versus grant is determined by the state, he said, and the Landfill board received three quarters of its funding in form of a grant.

The loan is a 20-year loan with zero percent interest, McOmie said. In order to accept the loan, the Landfill board had to sign an assignment in pledged of revenue agreement. The agreement cedes revenues from the transfer station to service the loan, up to 100 percent of the station’s revenues, if necessary.

The Landfill board will have to pay $1,562.50 per month, McOmie said.

Landfill board members said they did not believe it would be necessary to cede 100 percent of revenues to service the loan after discussing some fee projections. Randy Raymer, the board’s chair, said he is planning to propose a 10 percent rate increase.

This would raise the residential rate from $20 to $22 he said. The board, however, did not act at Wednesday’s meeting to increase landfill fees, saying that it would take up the issue at a future meeting.

The board also discussed overflowing public dumpsters in the town of Saratoga at Veterans Island and the hot pool. The dumpsters are brimming with trash and things like tires and other waste, Raymer said.

“Unregistered users are running rampant,” Raymer said. Raymer said unregistered users were often using the public dumpsters to avoid paying disposal fees. He was considering asking the town of Saratoga to leave the dumpsters out during the summer, but remove them after the board switches to its winter pickup schedule.

“It’s really a law enforcement issue,” Sue Jones of the Landfill board said. “The town should give a hoot because it’s theft of services; they’re paying to haul those off and every Tom, Dick and Harry is stealing from them.

“They need to get that through their heads that it’s illegal,” she said.

Raymer said that so far, the argument put forth by Jones has fallen on deaf ears at the town. He said he would hope his proposal to remove the dumpsters in the winter would make enough people demand that law enforcement in the town enforce the dumping laws.

The board also discussed the problems with cardboard recycling at Brush Creek Ranch. Last month the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) of Carbon County approved a special use permit to the ranch, and addressed several issues brought up by the ranch’s neighbors.

One of the issues was the large amount of waste generated by the ranch. The BOCC asked the Ranch to meet with the Landfill board to discuss a recycling program. Raymer said that he and Jones had met with representatives from the ranch to discuss the ranch purchasing a cardboard baling machine.

The next Landfill board meeting will be held 7 p.m., June 1 at Saratoga Town Hall.