Increasing amounts of waste entering the Jefferson County Solid Waste stream means it is time to talk options, the county commission said last week. The tonnage of waste has increased precipitously, said Commissioner Leonard Wortman, and the number of new users is also up. The biggest increase, he said, is at Montana City where the transfer site is open seven days a week and an average 400 users visit the site each day. The solid waste budget reserves are dwindling, he said, and some equipment needs to be replaced.
Solving the problem will require some changes, said Wortman, perhaps in the form of a rate increase or maybe with the addition of a scale to enable charging by weight. Rates have not been raised in many years, but costs of disposing of the waste has continued to rise, said the commissioners. Expanded service hours have also played a role, they said. No meeting has been set yet, said the commission, but there will probably be public meetings to discuss options in late May or early June.
