County considering whether to stay in waste pact with Hocking

The Athens County Commissioners will hold a work session Tuesday to discuss their future with the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District.

With the last contract up and new negotiations beginning, now is the time to decide whether Athens County will remain in the joint district program, according to Commissioner Larry Payne.

State law requires re-negotiation of the solid waste contract every five years, a process currently underway.

"Every five years you have to do a solid-waste plan for the district," Payne said Friday. "Also, the county has the option to withdraw from the district during the year that the plan is being drawn up."

Payne said there has been talk in the past about whether Athens County would be better off being in a solid waste district by itself, as opposed to the joint district with Hocking County.

"That's one thing that we'll be talking about "“ is it working real good the way it is now? Can it be changed? Can it be improved? Or do we need to look into possibly doing it ourselves? And is that in the best interest of our taxpayers?" Payne said. "That's what we're talking about."

He said that once a plan is implemented, the only way to withdraw is with the permission of the other partner(s) in the district.

"In other words, we would have a veto over Hocking County, and they would have a veto over us," he said. "So the only time you can withdraw on your own is when the plan is being updated."

He said looking into a possible withdrawal from the district is just being prudent, and utilizing the window of time to discuss what's in the best interest of Athens County.

The district itself, Payne said, is supposed to be self-funding, with monies raised from garbage fees, recycling charges and tipping fees (from the landfill).

"The tipping fees haven't been increased in 16 years, since [the joint plan] was implemented," Payne said. "So, obviously, that figure is really out of date."

Payne also pointed out that the commodities market for recycling bottomed out last year. Some items can't be sold for recycling any more, he said, plus he questioned whether much money can be made in recycling.

"So, the tipping fees haven't been increased, and that's one of your major sources of income," he said. "One of your other major sources is selling the commodity. And that's basically gone down the tubes in the last year."

Payne said that until the recycling market turns around, the district has some serious financial issues.

"Another problem is worker compensation," he said. "There have been some large claims over the years in solid waste, and they have a $300,000 worker compensation bill this year. And that's basically a big, big issue."

The problem is, Payne explained, that because Athens County is a fiscal agent for the district, what happens with the district impacts the county's finances, too.

"So we were removed from the improved rating, where there was savings for the county, to where we have to pay... the real cost of worker's comp dollar for dollar," he said. "And so those are huge hits to the county "“ several hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that's one of the disadvantages of having the joint district for Athens County."

If Athens County has its own solid waste district, it will still have that type of history, Payne acknowledged.

"But you can control it," he said. "It's your entity. And the other thing is that we could look at different ways of doing solid wastes. There are a lot of different options involved there. And that's what we'll be looking at."

The county is required by the state to reduce solid waste, Payne said, and that is the reason for recycling efforts that will continue.

"It should be interesting," he said.

The solid waste district work session is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the commissioners' regular meeting.

Last May, attorneys for the Athens-Hocking Joint Solid Waste District tentatively agreed to a $365,000 settlement, in a lawsuit by an Ohio University student from Japan who was hit by a recycling truck on the OU campus in March 2007.