By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has approved adding a referendum question to the November ballot to exceed the levy limit by $1 million per year for five years for Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling.
On a vote of 27 “yes” to two “no,” the county board approved the resolution at the July 29 meeting that was held using the Zoom online platform.
The county board received a draft of the referendum resolution at the July meeting but additional information was needed to fill in the costs, said Paul Miller, county manager.
The referendum question asks voters for their approval for up to $1 million per year for five years for capital expenditures for the solid waste and recycling program and to operate the Clean Sweep program.
Earlier this year, because of budget constraints, the Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling Management Board cancelled the Clean Sweep collection for this year.
Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from Menomonie, asked about the cost of adding the question to the November ballot.
The cost would be about $8,300, said David Bartlett, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Dunn County Board.
The ballot already will contain one referendum question, so the cost may be less for the solid waste and recycling question because $8,300 assumes all of the set-up charges would be carried by one referendum question, he added.
At the June meeting, the Dunn County Board approved adding a referendum question to the ballot about fair redistricting of legislative boundaries in Wisconsin following the 2020 census.
Improvements
The capital improvements included in the solid waste and recycling referendum question would include continued maintenance of the 30-year-old transfer station on state Highway 29, Miller said.
Capital improvements also would include setting aside money for future purposes, such as building a new transfer station, he said.
One county board member noted that several townships have been talking about withdrawing from the county’s solid waste and recycling program and wondered if now was the right time to add a referendum question to the ballot.
The county has received one notification of withdrawal so far, which means the participating municipalities will have to cover more of the operational costs, Miller said.
If the referendum question is approved, the money will come from all taxpayers in Dunn County and not only from the taxpayers in the municipalities that participate in the county’s solid waste and recycling program.
The solid waste and recycling division has a $2.9 million annual budget, said Morgan Gerk, director of Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling.
One-third of the budget is for capital improvements, noted Randy Prochnow, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
The solid waste and recycling program budget and capital improvements have been a topic of discussion among the members of the solid waste and recycling board and the municipalities for over a year, Miller said.
There has been a steep decline in recycling revenue due to China’s decision to stop accepting most recyclable materials, he said.
The revenue of the solid waste and recycling program has been “slipping,” and the expenditures have been increasing, partly because the transfer station is 30 years old, Miller said.
Dunn County’s current solid waste and recycling program is no longer sustainable. The program will either have to incur capital expenditures for new equipment, or Dunn County will have to get out of the business, he said.
Prochnow noted that after a rough calculation, the cost to Dunn County taxpayers for the $1 million would be about $30 per year per $100,000 of property value.
Borrowing
The Dunn County Board could borrow the money for a new transfer station or the county could decide to get out of the business, Bartlett said.
Putting a referendum question to the residents will determine how much they support the program. A referendum is a practical way to find out how much support there is from the residents, he said.
If the voters approve the referendum, the money can be set aside so there is less money to borrow for implementing a new program with a new transfer station, Bartlett said.
If the voters do not approve the referendum question, then it is time to get out of the business, he said.
All municipalities in Wisconsin operate under state-imposed levy limits.
Certain items, such as borrowing for capital improvements or support for libraries, can be “taken outside the levy limit” — that is, those items are in addition to the items that are included within the levy limit.
Five years
If the referendum is approved and $1 million is collected per year for five years, moving forward, what will happen in five years? asked Michael Rogers, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
Will the program be sustainable with a new facility? Will the townships be required to participate? He asked.
The program can be sustainable because the county board can approve a “flow ordinance” that would require all solid waste and recycling in the county to go through the facility, Bartlett said.
In response to a question of whether that would be competing with the private sector, Miller replied, “yes” — it would be competition for the private sector but it also would be an attempt to hold the costs down for county residents for solid waste and recycling.
The county has “economies of scale” that produce a lower cost than if each municipality contracts with a private hauler or if each property owner contracts with a private hauler, he said.
The per capita cost will be increasing significantly for 2021, Gerk said.
The per capita fee has been subsidized by the tipping fees charged at the transfer station, by the sale of recyclable materials and by smaller recycling grants, he said.
The per capita fees have been unrealistically low for decades, and there should have been a slow, steady increase to reach what the per capita fees will have to be now to fund the program, Gerk said.
Gerk noted he pays $64 per quarter for solid waste and recycling for his residence in Eau Claire, which would amount to $256 per year.
If the solid waste and recycling fees were to increase to $72 per person per year in Dunn County, at a calculation of 2.5 people per household, that would amount to $180 per year.
The solid waste and recycling fee in Dunn County is $23 this year ($12 for solid waste and $11 for recycling) for a total of $57.50 per household.
Recycling
Dunn County recycles many more items than state law requires, while private haulers recycle only what is mandated by the state, Bartlett said.
Dunn County would be in competition for the solid waste and for the mandated recyclables, but not for the other recyclables Dunn County handles that are not mandated by the state, he said.
But the fees will still increase, noted Robert Bauer, county board supervisor from Mondovi.
The fees will increase, and the amount of the increase will depend on how many municipalities stay in the program, Bartlett said.
The referendum money will not finance the program for the next several years, he said.
Votes
The Dunn County Board voted 27 “yes” to two “no” to include the solid waste and recycling referendum question on the November ballot.
Those voting in favor of the resolution were Donald Kuether (county board supervisor from Menomonie), Tim Lienau (Menomonie), Charles Maves (Boyceville), Kelly McCullough (Menomonie), Diane Morehouse (Menomonie), Tim Niehoff (Menomonie), Tom Quinn (Downing), Michael Rogers (Menomonie), Ron Score (Boyceville), Gary Stene (Colfax), Sheila Stori (Menomonie), James Tripp (Menomonie), Carl Vandermeulen (Menomonie), Ann Vogl (Menomonie), Jim Zons (Colfax), James Anderson (Menomonie), Robert Bauer (Mondovi), Gary Bjork (Colfax), Larry Bjork (Menomonie), John Calabrese (Menomonie), Vaughn Hedlund (Boyceville), Brian Johnson (Colfax), Sarah Kennedy (Menomonie), Mike Kneer (Menomonie), Jody Kromrey (Menomonie), Jerry Joe Hartung (Elmwood) and David Bartlett (Boyceville).
Voting against the resolution were Randy Prochnow (Menomonie) and Steve Jenson (Elk Mound).
Question
The question on the November ballot will read:
Under State law, the increase in the levy of the County of Dunn for the tax to be imposed for the next fiscal year, 2021, is limited to an estimated 1.6 percent, which results in an estimated levy of $22,443,781.
Shall the County of Dunn be allowed to exceed this limit and increase the levy for the next five (5) fiscal years, 2021 through 2025, by up to $1,000,000 per year (which for 2021 equals an estimated additional 4.45 percent for a total estimated increase of 6.13 percent and results in 2021 in an estimated levy of $23,443,781) for the purpose of paying for costs associated with a household hazardous waste collection (Clean Sweep) program and capital expenditures for the Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling Program?
