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Will the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District have enough money to pay their bills this year?
Director Sue Studebaker and the KCSWMD board hope so, but a measure of uncertainty still lingers.
At the district board meeting Tuesday, Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell told the board that the claims before them included the last tax distribution for 2003 pay 2004. Until possibly the August tax draw, the district will not receive any further tax monies. Normally there would be a disbursement in June, but due to last year's property reassessment running late and almost 2,000 property tax appeals, this year's tax collection and disbursement likely will run late. It's even uncertain if the disbursement will happen in August or if it will be later than that.
Ron Truex, district board member and middle district Kosciusko County commissioner, said the problem seems to be that the district's bills run about $20,000 per month and the district has only $52,000.
"It's going to be a problem, there's no way around it," said Studebaker.
With tax appeals, Mitchell said, the tax disbursements also may be reduced, so some taxing entities won't get what they expected.
If the district is going to have a problem, northern district county commissioner Brad Jackson said, and the money the district receives from tipping fees is going down, too, the district needs to address the issue now rather than waiting to "hit a brick wall."
District attorney Mike Armey said Allied is reviewing the host agreement amendments the district proposed, but he hasn't heard word back on them about the proposals. Allied is the owner of the landfill and pays the district tipping fees.
Under the amendments, the district wants to increase tipping fees 50 cents more per ton for out-of-county or out-of-state dumpers. The increase could possibly net the district an additional $20,000, Studebaker said, based on 2003 figures.
In addition, the amendments ask for a $15,000 stipend from Allied for Household Hazardous Waste expenses.
Even if the district gets that money, Truex said, the district "still loses four to five months this year."
"More than likely," said Studebaker, "we'll be short."
Jackson asked if there were items or expenses the district could give up.
Studebaker fired back that the district has cut, cut and cut some more until they've cut all they could.
Even if the tax distribution came in on time, Jackson said, the district still will be hurting this year. He also said the funds from the tipping fees are not what the district thought they were going to be.
"Do we need to start making adjustments?" Jackson asked.
Mitchell said the district's annual budget (approximately $227,000) divided by 12 months is the amount the district should spend each month.
Studebaker said at this time of the year, the district seems to spend more. The NIPSCO bill came in high because NIPSCO decided to do an actual meter reading instead of an estimated bill as they did in the past two months.
She said she does look for the tipping fees to increase eventually. The question is just how long the district can stretch the budget.
Mitchell reminded the board that in addition to the $52,000 tax disbursement, the district also draws approximately $10,000 per month from tipping fees.
As for the idea of getting a tax-anticipated warrant until the district gets its tax draw, Mitchell said, there will be interest with the TAW that was not figured into the district's 2004 budget.
Jackson suggested the board not take any action on the matter until next month when Armey can report to the board on Allied's decision about the amendments to the agreement.
Mitchell said she will meet with Studebaker before the April 6 meeting to see if they can make any changes or additions.
In other business, the KCSWMD board:
• Opened the only bid they received for the tire recycling program. The bid, from Elk Distribution, was approved provided the company furnish a financial statement, which they did not include with their bid but which was required. The company will charge 99 cents per tire, but the district can charge more from customers to recoup costs.
• Heard from Studebaker that because of budget concerns, the district is putting the start of a glass recycling program on hold until further notice.
• Approved the district to proceed with an appliance recycling program. The only cost to the district is advertising costs and the district will receive a small percentage of the money from the steel in the appliances being recycled.
• Approved for the board to have to approve any capital expenditures more than $500.
• Heard that Earth Day is April 17. The district will celebrate by having an Earth Day contest for all county schools from April 12-29. The contest is a plastic bag collection. For participating schools, each classroom will collect plastic shopping bags and count them daily and then place them in a provided container. At the end of the collection, the classroom within each school that collected the most will win a beanbag chair, filled with the collected plastic bags.
KCSWMD board members include David Delp, Ron Truex, Brad Jackson, Avis Gunter, John Kinsey, George Clemens and Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins.
