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Director:
Starke waste district
short on cash
South Bend Tribune
- 1/15
Starke
County Environmental Management District Director Carrie Trent
told the district board of directors Monday that the district
is running out of money.
If
user fees are not increased or other sources of funding are not
found soon, she said, the district could have to curtail services.
Although
the user fee base has not increased substantially since the district
began operations in the early 1990s, Trent said the cost of operating
the district has increased dramatically, with the major increases
associated with the recycling collection boxes.
Trent
told the board that the collection of recyclable materials has
been too successful.
"Our
residents have been doing a very good job of recycling,"
she said, highlighting North Judson in particular, where total
pulls of boxes annually have increased from 57 in 1997 to 158
in 2002, increasing the total cost of pickups in the county from
$51,454 in 1997 to $106,050 in 2002.
Trent
said that due to an increase in the cost of box rentals, she expects
2003 will have as many as 700 pickups in the 10 locations the
boxes are located throughout the county with a cost of $149,000.
At that rate, the district will be underfunded soon, she said.
The
board did not have a hazardous waste day in 2002, and Trent said
that if costs continue to increase, it would be difficult to continue
the popular day in the future.
Trent
asked the board to consider an increase of the user rate in the
near future. If it is not, she said the board may have to consider
reducing the number of drop-off recycling locations.
The
district has already removed a box from a location near Five Star,
1209 Heaton St., at the request of that business. The site was
one of the busiest in the county, but Trent has argued it also
was one of the sites most often contaminated.
The
reduction of the Five Star location, with recyclers asked to use
other locations, has meant a reduction of pulls in Knox by about
30 annually.
The
board also asked Trent to take a new look at possible countywide
recycling pickup similar to that used in Marshall County.
The
board also approved a new procedure for collection of late user
fees. Trent told the board that more than 2,000 late-fee notices
will be sent out soon, and just the cost of the mailing would
run about $1,200.
The
board approved a new system of using an outside collection agency
for any undeliverable billings, and from now on, unpaid fees will
be processed through small claims court annually. Once the billings
have proceeded through small claims, if they are not paid, they
will be sent to collections.
Beginning
in 2004, there will be no late payment billings sent out, and
the unpaid fees will be sent directly to small claims for processing.
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