Contention and confusion, specifically by one commissioner, over solid waste fee increases, led to a vote that approved those hikes after an hour-long Board of Commissioners meeting Monday morning.
As presented by Macon County Solid Waste Director Chris Stahl, his budget included three fee increases: raising the tipping fee for brush/stumps from $30 to $35 per ton (raising $20,000), increasing the transfer fee for commercial waste from the Highlands Transfer Station from $8.75 per ton to $12.50 per ton (raising $41,250) and applying the transfer fee to brush/stumps at the Highlands Transfer Station (raising $21,500).
Stahl said these fee increases would help offset cost increases and avoid increasing availability fees for the entire county. “I don’t think it’s fair to put the haul bill on everybody for commercial,” he said. “I don’t charge residents.”
County Manager Derek Roland said the Monday, June 26, special meeting was called after confusion regarding the 2023-24 county budget, which passed June 19 by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner John Shearl against.
Shearl said his understanding was that since Commissioner Josh Young’s compromise budget that passed didn’t specifically mention the solid waste fee increase, in his mind, those weren’t included in the budget, even though those fee increases were in the proposed budget and the passed motion did not exclude them.
During Monday’s meeting Shearl again made his case against the fee increases. At past meetings Shearl has argued that Highlands residents are sending too much money “down the mountain” to Franklin.
Shearl asked Stahl numerous questions, including about the 2008 closure of the Highlands landfill, hauler’s fees, the current landfill and the vote earlier this year to expand and regrade it, the potential of selling compost from ground stumps and branches and more. Right before the vote, Shearl said the Highlands landfill was “taken away” from the citizens in 2008.
Stahl said the closure was due to new state laws that would have made monitoring and sampling costs “unreasonable for all property owners” for a landfill that had two years of life expectancy left.
Young said he appreciated Shearl trying to look out for the taxpayers but made the motion to approve the fee increases. The 4-1 vote had Shearl against it, after which, the meeting adjourned.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 11 at the Macon County Courthouse.