DC solid waste & recycling board postpones $338,000 fund balance payment to 2022

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling Management Board has approved postponing the $338,000 fund balance repayment until 2022.

In addition to postponing payback to the solid waste and recycling fund balance, the DCSW&R board also has approved paying back half of the $330,000 loan from the county’s general fund in 2021 rather than the entire amount.

The solid waste and recycling management board met using the Zoom online platform August 4.

Postponing the fund balance payment and paying half of the loan from the county will result in a lower per capita for the member municipalities, said Morgan Gerk, director of Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling.

The original plan was to pay back $338,000 over three years to reach $1 million in the solid waste and recycling fund balance, but the payment could be extended to five years, Gerk said.

Repaying half of the loan from the county would result in a per capita fee of $7.19 for solid waste and $7.02 for recycling, he said.

The per capita fee, calculated with the full repayment to the county’s general fund and no repayment to the solid waste and recycling general fund in 2021 would result in a per capita fee of $64.22 for member municipalities, Gerk said.

The $64.22 accounts for the fact that the Town of Red Cedar has withdrawn from the solid waste and recycling program and the City of Menomonie has withdrawn from the recycling program, he said.

Ed Hartung, a member of the solid waste and recycling management board, asked about increasing fees for items such as batteries, electronics and bulbs.

The solid waste and recycling program has already increased fees, and the fees are difficult for the collection site attendants to track, Gerk said.

The fees Dunn County charges now, after a study of fees in other counties, are 70 to 80 percent of the amount of the fees charged by other counties, he said.

Fund balance

After the audit of the 2019 budget, the solid waste and recycling general fund has a balance of $237,000, Gerk said.

If the referendum does not pass in November, there will be equity to pay back the county’s general fund for the other half of the $330,000, said David Bartlett, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Dunn County Board.

Solid waste and recycling does not need a fund balance if solid waste and recycling is not in business, he said.

Bartlett said he was in favor of not replenishing the program’s fund balance this year “until we know if we still have a program.”

Bartlett also said he was in favor of not paying back the loan to the county in 2021 because if the solid waste and recycling program shuts down, there will be assets that can be used to pay the county’s general fund.

Gary Bjork, county board supervisor from Colfax and chair of the solid waste and recycling board, suggested paying back half of the loan from the county as a “good faith” effort.

Gerk noted that he has been asked about selling the compactors, used oil tanks and office structures at some of the collection sites — presumably because some municipalities are thinking about withdrawing from the county program and going out on their own.

The solid waste and recycling program would have some income from the sale of equipment and the program also would have lower operational costs because of savings on pull fees and tipping fees from not operating some of the sites, he said.

The reduced budget for solid waste and recycling would decrease the per capita fees for the municipalities remaining in the program, Gerk said.

Recycling

Non-member municipalities have always been able to recycle at any of the collection sites, even though they do not pay any recycling fees to the county, Bartlett said.

The member municipalities have been subsidizing the non-member municipalities for recycling, he said.

Bartlett suggested that non-member municipalities should no longer be able to bring their recyclable items for free but should instead be required to buy a sticker for regular recycling and the non-mandated items that Dunn County recycles.

Charging non-member municipalities a fee for recycling would bring in extra income and “it would be fair,” he said.

Closing costs

If the referendum does not pass, and Dunn County shuts down the solid waste and recycling program, there will be closing costs, Gerk said.

The solid waste and recycling program has equity that belongs to the members of the program, and there is enough equity to cover closing costs, Bjork said.

Budget

The total revenue for the solid waste portion of the budget in 2021 is listed as $2,058,413 with expenses of $1,642,490 and a net of $415,923.

The total revenue for the recycling portion of the 2021 budget is $1,195,929 with expenses of $780,007 and a net of $415,922.

The 2021 budget also includes $100,000 for a Clean Sweep collection of hazardous materials for member municipalities.

If the referendum passes in November, Gerk said he would recommend converting to single-stream recycling immediately to reduce operational costs.

Single stream would mean no sorting of recyclable materials by hand and there would be no costs for baling, he said.

The single stream recyclables would be hauled to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Minnesota, where the recyclables would be sorted by mechanical means, and after the hauling and tipping fees are deducted, the county might receive at least a little money from the sale of the recyclables.

The Dunn County Solid Waste and Recycling Management Board unanimously approved a motion to postpone paying $338,000 to the program’s general fund until 2022 and to pay back half of the $330,000 borrowed from the county, although if the administrations determines that all of the loan must be paid back, then the remaining fund balance will be used to pay the difference.

The solid waste and recycling board also unanimously approved sending the 2021 budget to the Planning, Resources and Development Committee with the recommended changes.