Caledonia Argus

Disposal contract under negotiation between Houston, La Crosse counties

Posted: 10/21/03

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

Houston County is coming closer to finalizing a deal with La Crosse County over disposal of its waste.

Houston County has spent the last two years responding to La Crosse Countyís proposal to extend its waste disposal contract, which ends June 30, 2008, for 15 more years. La Crosse Countyís original proposal stipulated that Houston County would pay a portion of the cost of La Crosse Countyís new incinerator on French Island, which calculates to $240,000 to be paid over 15 years.

Houston County currently pays tipping fees for using La Crosseís incinerator for disposing household waste at $58 a ton and demolition material at the landfill for $63 a ton. Non-burnables at the landfill cost $37 a ton.

Over the course of negotiations last year, La Crosse County proposed that it would reward counties who use their landfill by rebating them $5 a ton toward paying each countyís portion of the cost of the new incinerator.

Houston County Zoning and Solid Waste Officer Rick Frank said this rebate would more than pay for Houston Countyís portion of the incinerator. Other counties who do not use the landfill would be billed for their portion of the costs for the incinerator.

Frank noted that in the past part of the tipping fees for the landfill have been used to subsidize counties who did not use it. ìThatís not right,î he said.

The current proposal, however, is more fair, he said.

Liability is another issue the county is negotiating with La Crosse. In its current contract, Houston County is not responsible for any liability connected with La Crosseís current landfill.

Houston County is working toward having no liability in this contract as well.

La Crosse County has two landfills, one that has been closed and one that is currently being used. La Crosse plans to transfer material from the closed landfill to the current landfill so that it can fix the old landfill to bring it back into use. This would give La Crosse 35 to 40 more years of landfill use.

Houston County had been concerned that La Crosse County was using part of its tipping fees to help pay for this reconstruction. So last year Houston County paid a financial analyst to review La Crosse Countyís financial records to discover how it was spending money received from its tipping fees.

ìEverything came out all right,î said Frank, ìWe figured out how the system works internally.î

Because Houston County uses the landfill and incinerator, it can attend La Crosse Countyís waste disposal meetings and provide input on how La Crosse County spends its money. La Crosse County, however, has the final say in financial decisions.

In the past, Houston County has not attended meetings because those meetings were scheduled at the same time as county board meetings.

Houston County has contracted with Lindquist and Vennum P.L.L.P., a law firm in St. Paul, to assist in preparing a waste disposal contract between La Crosse and Houston County.

Houston County commissioners had planned to discuss the progress of negotiations with La Crosse County at its Tuesday, October 21 meeting.

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