Inflation forces Lincoln County to up annual refuse fees by $50

When Lincoln County last raised its refuse fees back in 1993, diesel fuel cost $1.10 per gallon. A year later, the price tag of a compactor came in at $175,000. And in 1999 when a compactor truck was needed, the financial hit came to the tune of $150,556.

Through inflation, those same items dwarf prices of the last 15 years. According to numbers the county put together, diesel fuel is now $4.24 per gallon, a compactor costs $320,000 and a compactor truck comes in at $232,503.

County officials knew a refuse fee increase was needed.

As a result, commissioners approved a $50 hike in refuse fees from the previous $85 to $135 annually.

“It’s a big county; we have refuse coming in from the north end of the county and we have a station up there, a station in Troy and have trucks on the road all the time,” commissioner Rita Windom said. “The refuse fees that we’re charging are not covering inflation.”

The refuse operation must be self-supporting and generate revenue from fees and not taxes because of its association with the county’s enterprise fund.

Fuel costs are a primary reason why the fee went up. Windom said that a couple of years ago, it cost $5,000 for a diesel fuel tanker. That cost today is $14,000.

“It shows that we’re seeing impacts not only in equipment and fuel costs but maintenance, shipping, just across the board our costs have gone up so significantly since 1994 that we cannot support refuse fees,” said Kathi Hooper, Environmental Health director.

The revenue vs. cost issue involving refuse has been escalating over the past few years.

“One of the things that we didn’t say is that they aren’t breaking even now and had to take money out of reserves to make it run for two years now,” Windom said. “It’s been in this dire position now for two years.”

One local resident questioned the steep increase.

“The increase you’re asking for is probably 60 to 65 percent,” he said. “I realize the cost of machinery and fuel but that not only affects the county but every person that lives here. The public is getting hit pretty hard themselves. I just think a 60 to 65 percent increase per household will bring in way more than the cost of inflation, maintenance and fuel.”

Commissioners briefly talked about the possibility of issuing the fee increases in smaller increments over a longer period of time but that idea appeared to have holes that would not fix the problem.

Libby resident Clarence Johnson suggested the need for a recyling program and asked if the implementation of such could offset the necessity of a $50 refuse fee increase.

“When you go out to the dump, do you ever ask yourself why is all of this being thrown away?” Johnson said. “It really bothers me to see everything that’s thrown away. You see aluminum cans being buried; it just burns me to the core.”

Just recently, Kootenai Disposal proposed the idea of a curbside recycling program.