County executive provides point-by-point explanation about landfill

During this December county committee meetings, Executive Denny Wayne Robinson addressed the contentious topic of the landfill.

As a part of the Solid Waste Committee meeting, Robinson attempted to cover all the facts, questions, and misconceptions he has seen regarding the ordeal. The $5 fee will still be charged to residents that live out in the county, even though the city eliminated that charge for residents living in the city limits.

“I wanted to give kind of an update, and go back,” he said. “Most of the information I’m about to share has been given not in chronological order, kind of as the issue came up. I’m going to go back to the beginning of the landfill and Solid Waste. How this happened, what’s happened, what went down, why we are where we are, and basically clear up a lot of the facts and basically, the lies that are being shared about what’s going on at the White County Landfill.”

The update took nearly an hour to get through all the information and a few questions from audience and commissioners. Some of the major topics Robinson hit on were:

•A brief history of the landfill and regulations that led to the county’s operation in 1996.

•That the $5 fee is a disposal fee that helps convenience centers and equipment.

•The massive amount of regulation and cost that go into Solid Waste, which is inspected at least once a week.

•The county’s decision in the 90s, and the drawbacks of the decision, such as having no one who knows how to operate a proper landfill.

•The future cost of Solid Waste, which would dwarf even education costs. The county currently has about 70% of its budget in education.

•Options the commission looked at over the past few years, such as leasing.

•The debt White County is in due to the landfill and how the sell to Waste Management would cover and get that debt off the taxpayer.

•The City of Sparta issue. Robinson claimed the city was informed but was indeed left out of the deal as it is operated by the county. Robinson also claimed he tried to assist the city afterward, but he was shot down in meetings or told the city would handle their own trash.

•The $5 and how the county will have to look at potentially removing it as an option, especially since the city already has. Since city residents also benefit from the convenience centers like all other county residents, people might think it is unfair if the city residents do not pay that fee while outside the city, they do.

After the update, the commissioners began to discuss matters such as the $5 fee. Commissioner Roger Mason said, “I think the most difficult piece of it is the difference between city and county, and if we’re not all doing it, we’re not all doing it.”

Commissioner T.K. Austin said, “The host fee we’re talking about? It’s something that will run out, at some point, and anything that we do at this point to say ‘Okay we’re gonna fund this, or we’re gonna fund that.’ Anything that gets into the maintenance of effort, at the point that runs out, 40 years, 50 years, down the road, won’t none of us be here. Won’t be our problem. But it’ll be somebody’s problem.”

Austin, while agreeing it is unfair for some in the county to pay the fee while others do not, recommended waiting until the host fees begin to come in.

Commissioner Derrick Hutchings responded that the fee being paid by county residents is not entirely unfair, citing that city residents pay an extra fee for pickup.

“I don’t see how it’s going to hurt the citizens of the county,” Hutchings said. “To me, it’s going to hurt them more by taking the fee off. If we remove the $5 fee and this host fee does not cover it, then our only alternative is property tax, which will also go on citizens of the city, which is not fair to them because they aren’t using the landfill service.”

Commissioner Dakota White agreed with Austin, that waiting to see how the financials play out by July would be wisest.

Some had wondered why the deal seemed so good for the county and questioned what Waste Management had to gain. Mason and Robinson helped clarify that the trash brought in from other counties that Waste Management will handle, something the county-operated landfill could not do, will make plenty of money for Waste Management. That is why the county can have its trash taken for free.

The Solid Waste Committee did not make a motion to remove the $5 fee after their discussion, believing it is wiser to wait for now. If a lot of surplus comes in because of this new landfill deal, they will revisit the option of removal.

All county committee meetings are livestreamed on the commission’s YouTube page at White County TN Commission, and all meetings are open to the public. White County Board of Commissioners’ meeting will be 6 p.m., Dec. 15, in the third-floor courtroom at the courthouse.