County residents, businesses may have to use county landfill

    The next time you think about hopping over to Finney County to use its landfill, your days may be numbered.
    Although only in the early stages, Ford County officials are toying with the idea of putting it on the books that if you live in the county, you can only dump at the county landfill.
    County Administrator Ed Elam said the idea was tossed around last year, when the Kansas Department of Health and Environment required a five-year evaluation of the county's disposal plan.
    With prices rising and the county looking at combating the costs of meeting certain environmental criteria at the landfill, Elam said requiring residents to use the local landfill was looking attractive.
    "We're just trying to offset the costs," he said.
    Although it was too early to tell what repercussions locals might face if the resolution was passed and they tried to dump in another county, Elam said it was unlikely that dumping fees would increase right away.
    "Our fees increase or decrease depending on what it costs to maintain," Elam said.
    He said the county's legal counsel, Glenn Kerbs, is currently looking at language for similar resolutions, including a Seward County resolution passed three years ago that included similar guidelines.
    Seward County Landfill manager Mike Tabor said the resolution has done its job by keeping waste management money in the county.
    Tabor said one of the largest issues facing both Seward and Ford counties was the tendency of private waste companies to haul trash to their private landfills.
    By doing that, Tabor said, the counties would then have to raise rates to continue meeting environmental regulations.
    "We can't control where the waste goes in our region," Tabor said. "But we can control it within the county."
    Both Elam and Tabor acknowledged that enforcement of such resolutions is tough. Elam said it was too early in Ford County's investigation to determine how a resolution would be enforced.
    Similarly, Tabor said it seemed as if most of the private waste companies were using Seward County's landfill. But, he said, it's hard to tell how often people go to surrounding areas.
    The subject has proven to be controversial, even going so far as to have a U.S. Supreme Court decision saying that counties can indeed regulate waste flow within their boundaries.
    Tabor said the public reaction to the resolution was largely slim to none, but private businesses rankled.
    "You would hope the public supports it," he said. "By doing this, the county can keep prices down."
    When the subject was briefly broached during the May 5 meeting, Ford County Commission Chairman Kim Goodnight said he felt it was necessary for the county to tread lightly as it began regulating where residents could take their trash.
    "This is a fairly controversial issue," Goodnight said. "If somebody has a certain level of expertise, they ought to be involved in the wording of it."
    Elam said the discussion of restricting what landfills residents can use would likely drag on for the next couple months.
    "From the landfill's standpoint, we'd like to have it decided today," Elam said. "But, in reality, we're probably looking at around 90 days as commissioners study the various options."

Reach Mark Vierthaler at (620) 408-9932 or e-mail him at mark.vierthaler@dodgeglobe.com.