COMMENTARY: Who will take the Fifth?

Kevin Halpern | kevin@cannoncourier.com


The Town of Woodbury and Cannon County are currently at odds over who should be responsible for paying the cost of depositing solid waste for Fifth District residents at a landfill.

Unless the Cannon County Board of Commissioners decide on Saturday to reverse their decision of last month, it is probable the town will sue the county on behalf of the residents of the Fifth District.

The basic facts are as follows:

• The Town of Woodbury collects trash for residents of the Fifth District of Cannon County, who are also residents of the town.

• When the county decided on Sept. 1 to close the transfer station at the Cannon County Convenience Center, it meant the town's garbage trucks had to take the trash collected from Fifth District residents directly to a landfill.

• Fifth District residents, like residents of the county's four other districts, are currently being charged by the county through property taxes to haul solid waste to a landfill and deposit it there.

• That service is among the expenditures listed in the budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year the Cannon County Board of Commissioners passed in August. The line item in the budget lists the amount as $400,000.

• Now that the county is refusing to pay the landfill cost unless Fifth District residents take their trash to the convenience center themselves, those residents who have the town pick up their garbage are paying about $80 each this year to the county for a service they are not receiving.

• In addition to that, those same Fifth District residents will have to pay the Town of Woodbury about $80 more this year if the county continues to refuse to pay for the service.

• Fifth District residents were not informed the county would not pay the landfill costs unless they took their garbage to the convenience center until after the budget was passed.

If you live in the Fifth District you probably don't think it is fair to either pay twice this year for the same service, or radically change the way in which you dispose of your garbage. However, if you live in the county's other four districts, you probably don't have a problem with it -- unless you are among the many who will have to pay extra to a private hauler who can also no longer take garbage to the convenience center.

It will be interesting to see what happens Saturday and depending on the outcome, whether the town will end up suing the county. In the meantime the basic facts are known and you can be the judge.