The County Solid Waste District ended 2012 in the black and reached more than 4,000 students with educational programs, Kosciusko County Council heard Thursday. Shelly Heckert, district educational director, gave a year-end report during the council meeting. She spoke about district changes from the Union Street recycling depot’s facelift to the growth of outreach programs. Renovation at the depot brought siding and landscaping to the plain brown building and nearly doubled the size of collection space in back. Other efforts cut down their electric bills, she told the council. KCSWD brought in $366,833 last year, with the bulk of it coming from property taxes and payments from Veolia ES Hoosier Landfill in Claypool. The district spent $349,768, mainly in personnel costs. When council members remarked on the $17,000 profit, Heckert said the district is happy to break even most years. She added the payments from the landfill are a unique funding source for a solid waste district, and are essentially based on the amount of trash going in. “It’s kind of different, but it’s not like we promote throwing everything away,” she remarked. Also during the meeting, the council approved transfers of $1,137.20 in County Sheriff’s Department funds for vehicle repairs and maintenance, and about $4,000 in the county health department for rent payments for its facility in the K21 Health Pavilion. They also approved additional budget appropriations, including $11,132.42 in the Economic Development Income Tax fund for highway projects, $5,001 in circuit and superior court funds for a new employee and $5,000 in cumulative reassessment for employee meeting and travel expenses. The largest appropriation was $106,600 in the employee health insurance fund, which represents the budget for the year for the employee health clinic.
