The financial situation at the Kosciusko County Solid Waste District is looking down -- again, according to district controller and county auditor Sue Ann Mitchell, board of directors members learned Tuesday.

The district found itself at the same low bottom line last year.

Although the financial picture is becoming clearer, the April 9 financial report shows $14,061 as an ending balance, with no tax draw until the end of June. The district takes in about $12,830 per month, mainly in the form of tipping fees.

Board of directors president Ron Truex is unwilling to charge a per-residence user fee or raise the tax levy until all the accounts are clear.

Sue Studebaker, SWD director, expressed concern about how to fund the district next year. She said fees per-household work very well in other counties.

Truex suggested instituting user fees - charges for items brought to the KC Depot to be recycled.

He said the district has an obligation to provide services but doesn't have the obligation to provide them for free.

Studebaker said she is using grant monies for day-to-day operations, for paying the gas and electric bill.

The board had no response to that statement. Truex said since the district has a certificate of deposit worth $50,000, it could be tapped for expenses.

"It is difficult for me to have more taxes with a $50,000 CD," he said. "We shouldn't be putting the taxpayers' money in a savings account.

"Instead of adding more money, the question is, what are we doing? It is a confusing budget. Is more money the answer? The only way [to solve the problem] is to dig down deeper for answers."

Mike Lewis, of Lewis Salvage and of the community advisory board, suggested the Stafford recycling contract is the biggest expense - more than $150,000 per year - and that might be where cuts could be made first.

He was advised the district is under contract with Stafford for the rest of the year and no one else bid on the work.

Lewis also said the landfill is not getting the maximum amount per ton. The district receives $1.20 per ton for in-county hauling, $1.30 for out of county and $1.50 for out-of- state trash.

Board member Ernie Wiggins, mayor of Warsaw, said it's just not cost effective to recycle, it's still cheaper to put trash in the landfill. The city provides trash pickup for Warsaw residents, paid with the tax levy.

"If we raise taxes, if we raise the tipping fee, we get whacked twice," Wiggins said.

In other business, the board:

• Discussed the upcoming observation of Earth Day at the KC Depot. Groups and citizens are asked to clean up certain stretches of county roads on April 27. Along the roads will be empty two-liter soft drink bottles with prize tickets inside. Prizes range from a 24-karat gold rose from Allen Designs and a cut-glass jar from Warsaw Cut Glass to various gift certificates from numerous businesses - more than 200 in all. Studebaker said the prize-holding bottles would be collected later.

Booths and displays also will be set up at the Union Street facility.

• Tentatively approved a contract with RFPS of Pennsylvania to haul computer monitors at 11 cents per pound.

Lewis objected to the price because it came to $220 per ton, 10 times what it costs to landfill.

Board members are: Ron Truex, Avis Gunter, Tom Anglin, Ernie Wiggins and George Clemens. David Delp and Brad Jackson were absent. [[In-content Ad]]