Jefferson County is considering a nearly 30 percent increase to residents’ annual solid waste fee and plans to hold a series of public meetings before commissioners put the matter to a vote.
The current annual fee for the county’s Solid Waste Program is $149.69, and program manager Mike Myers has requested a $43.31 increase (29%), bringing the new annual fee to $193. He broke it down as $30 more per year to handle residents’ waste, plus $13 to enable the program to buy a new garbage truck, repair existing vehicles and possibly build a new garage.
The trucks haul some 350 tons of monthly waste from across the county to processing in East Helena. Largely due to the increased cost of fuel and labor, the waste program has burned through its excess funds in the last few years.
“When I started as commissioner, we were probably $800,000 [in surplus] because they were running so efficient they weren’t spending all their revenue,” said Cory Kirsch, who first became County Commissioner in 2015.
“That’s slowly flipped over and we’re actually spending more than we’re bringing in right now,” said Kirsch, explaining how the county has sought to keep fees down. “We’ve really struggled the past few years trying to keep it as efficient as possible.”
As an enterprise fund, the county waste program can only use revenues generated by its annual fee. Enterprise funds are “business-like funds that operate on self-sustaining fees and revenues,” according to Butte-Silver Bow.
The first meeting to discuss the solid waste fee increase will be June 9 in Boulder, followed by meetings in Montana City June 16 and Whitehall June 23, leading to a final public hearing in July. If residents warn commissioners against the increase, they may be forced to cut services, such as some garbage collection sites.
“We want to be really careful with people’s money and only do what we need to do,” said Kirsch. “We want a public process so people can weigh in and we can make a good decision.”
Following the public meetings, the county commissioners expect to vote on the fee later in July. If approved, the fee increase would take effect with the new tax bill in the fall.
The June 9 meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at Volunteer Hall on the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. County residents can find further information about the Solid Waste Program at https://jeffersoncounty-mt.gov/solid-waste/.
