[ad_1]
The results of a six-month audit conducted by Jasper County Supervisor Brandon Talsma showed some residents had seriously abused the free at-home elimination rule, which he cited as one of the reasons for which the county has entered into a new agreement with the establishment and now charges rural landowners. for garbage cans.
In the past, the county covered the costs of household waste disposal for rural residents. But Talsma said people have taken advantage of the program.
“There are several incidents that tell me this program is being abused,” Talsma said. “We had one person who in one day – June 16 – brought in 9,000 pounds of things… that were treated as household waste. And the county footed the bill.
Another person in March 2021 carried eight loads totaling 15.34 tonnes in three days and was treated, again, as household waste, Talsma said. This incident cost the county $ 797.68. Talsma said she found “case after case” of similar incidents.
In response, the supervisory board on Tuesday, September 7 approved a new intergovernmental agreement for the disposal of solid waste in the landfill. The deal is also the result of renegotiations by the county attorney’s office authorized by supervisors earlier this year.
Most of the changes to the deal are relatively minor, Talsma said, but the most significant is the dissolution of a clause that “prevented the county from paying for household waste disposal” at the Newton landfill. County costs continued to rise, leading to the creation of a new agreement.
At a budget workshop meeting last year, Talsma demanded that the $ 268,000 the county was going to allocate for the landfill be reduced to $ 100,000 instead.
Currently, a flat fee of $ 10 is set for anything under 500 pounds. Talsma said it caused problems for the county as well. The county would consistently pay more, as the cost of a 10-pound transport is essentially the same as a 499-pound transport.
During that six-month period, Talsma said the county paid $ 15,150 for a total of 97 tons of garbage. If the county was billed by the tonne instead, he estimated it would only cost about $ 3,000. Talsma also took issue with the fact that contracted carriers are not able to present documents tracing their transportations in rural areas.
“I believe there is evidence to show that the program has been used (and) that there has been abuse,” he said. “So I think it would be in the county’s interest to sign a renegotiated 28E and remove that specific clause from the 28E.”
Newton City Council has already approved the amended 28E Agreement with Jasper County at its August 2 meeting. Talsma said other towns in the county – Baxter, Colfax, Kellogg, Lambs Grove, Lynnville, Mingo, Monoroe, Oakland Acres, Sully and Valeria – would consider approving the amended contract.
Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or [email protected]
[ad_2]
Source link