New director wants to implement waste fee

By Rachel Weddig
Gene Kramer, the new director of the East Central Solid Waste Commission (ECSWC), made his first appearance at the Commission meeting, Monday, Aug. 11.
Kramer began with the ECSWC July 28 and spent his first few weeks familiarizing himself with the landfill operations and construction projects.
ìIím really glad to be here,î Kramer said. ìMy goal is to someday have the Commission pay back all the counties plus interest. We also need to start thinking about putting some money away for a landfill expansion.î
Kramer said he wants to make sure the Commission is out in the public talking to people and seeking their input.
ìWe need to let the guy on the street be the final judge,î Kramer said. ìWe can let him decide if weíre doing the right things or the wrong things.î
One idea Kramer would like to develop and implement is a solid waste management fee that would be collected by the service providers/haulers that cover the region of the ECSWC.
When the idea was first proposed in 1999, the Mille Lacs County Board voted against the idea.
Since the solid waste management fee concept needed unanimous approval from all the five ECSWC counties of Pine, Isanti, Chisago, Kanabec and Mille Lacs, the idea was never implemented.
Kramerís proposal would be a hauler collected solid waste management fee based on the size of the generatorís container, therefore itís a volume-based system. Kramer said the system does have a disadvantage, but many advantages.
ìThe drive behind this is competition in the marketplace,î Kramer said. ìThe intent of looking at this solid waste management fee is to let the five counties contain control over their own destiny.î
Kramerís vision with the solid waste management fee has three parts.
ï The new system must be based on the concept of the user equally sharing in the costs of solid waste management.
ï Remove the ECSWC costs from the countyís tax statements, either as a line item or as an ad valorem tax.
ï Find an alternative method to collect the costs.
Right now counties collect costs of ECSWC operations with a variety of methods.
Isanti and Pine counties implement ad valorem taxes used to collect costs.
Kanabec, Mille Lacs and Chisago have a fee of $20 per unit assessed on the taxes, with commercial properties paying a per unit cost based on value, with a maximum fee ranging from $80 to $150.
Kramer outlined six problems with the current system.
ï Ad Valorem tax is unfair because itís not related to the amount of waste produced by a generator.
ï Unit fee tax unfairly benefits the large volume water generators by limiting their share of the costs.
ï Neither tax collection system recovers from users based on the amount of waste generated.
ï Method of collecting costs in the five counties is not consistent.
ï Many tax exempt entities currently donít pay the costs recovered by the counties.
ï The current system doesnít have any incentive to reduce waste generation.
ECSWC Chair George Larson from Isanti County, asked Kramer if implementing the fee would be contingent upon all the counties passing a resolution.
ìIs there a possibility of doing this in four counties and not in the fifth?î Larson asked. ìMille Lacs County had a lot of pressure last time from its haulers. It would be foolish to go through two to three months of effort and get it shot down again.î
Kramer said that would be an ECSWC board decision and it can be discussed during sub-committee meetings.
Commissioner Robert Hoefert from Mille Lacs County and Commissioner Alan Hancock from Pine County agreed to sit on a sub-committee to discuss the solid waste management fee.
The next ECSWC meeting is scheduled for Sept. 8 at 9 a.m. at the commissionís office in Mora.

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