MONTICELLO - The Sullivan County Legislature put off a vote on the user fee for the solid waste management system today until next Tuesday in order to discuss issues that came up during a public comment forum. 

Last month, a consultant presented the findings of a $75,000 study, recommending that the current based on tipping fees, be replaced with a categorized tax.

The current system is running a deficit which is being subsidized by the taxpayers.

Legislator Alan Sorenson, felt that the idea of a user fee has merit, but that the proposed user fee structure was flawed. 

“It doesn’t provide any incentive for recycling, for example,” worried Sorenson.  “It’s being set up as a user fee with a zero tip fee.” 

He felt it was invitation for out of county residents to migrate to Sullivan County for disposal, which he felt would be an inevitable outcome. 

“I would favor a hybrid approach that would have a lesser user fee and a tip fee to provide a disincentive for that out of county waste to migrate to our facilities.” 

Many citizens and town officials offered voiced concerns. 

“Doing business in this county is tough enough with the economic conditions”, said Jay Weinstein, 45-year owner of Bernie’s Holiday restaurant in Rock Hill.  “Look at the sales tax numbers.” 

Weinstein did not feel that the fee structure was equitable to everyone, challenging a key point in the Mid Atlantic Solid Waste Consultants:  “… zero tip fees for in-county waste is the most equitable to all rate payers and provides the lowest waste management costs per ton of waste managed.”

Town of Tusten Supervisor Ben Johnson said he and his town are firmly against the user fee. 

“My biggest problem with this is the timing of the public hearing and the ability to put this forth for a vote.”

Tom Frye, the Executive Director of the New York State Assessor’s Association, addressed policy and technical concerns. 

“A single family home that is occupied year round will generate X amount of solid waste, but a single family home that is only occupied for weekends during the summer months, will not generate anywhere near the same amount of solid waste.” 

The list of nine ‘categories’ identified in the study does, in fact, include a class for seasonally occupied properties, such as bungalows.

Legislature Chairman Jonathan Rouis is sticking to his original assessment that this is not a new tax or fee, but, “…a change in the way they are billed.”

Rouis insists that based upon an evaluation done by the consultants “the fee would be equal to or less than what the people are currently paying now.”