By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Trash fees have become a controversial issue in St. Joseph as the city council considers sharply increasing fees at the city landfill.
A consultant recommends the St. Joseph City Council raise the landfill rate from the current $32 a ton to as much as $125 a ton.
Interim City Manager Clint Thompson says St. Joseph’s low rates invite trash haulers from outside the city to use the St. Joseph landfill.
“Predominantly, the Kansas City metro area having that trash now hauled to St. Joseph’s landfill,” Thompson tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “So, it’s doubled the volume during that time period.”
In 2014, 100,000 tons of trash were dumped at the St. Joseph landfill, according to Thompson. That rose to 240,000 tons in 2019.
Yet, Josh Reinert, who owns ABC Disposal, insists the problem at the landfill isn’t the amount of trash dumped, but a failure to develop capacity at the landfill.
“It’s not the extra tonnage why we’re running out. It’s because we’ve already cleared 30 foot off trash mountain, which is a mountain of trash that we’ve stored for two years,” Reinert tells both Birr and Thompson during a phone call to the KFEQ Hotline. “That’s why we’re running out of capacity.”
Reinert and Thompson had a spirited exchange during the Hotline.
Thompson says the St. Joseph tipping fee of $32 a ton has attracted outside haulers used to paying $150-to-190 a ton to drive the extra miles to come to the St. Joseph landfill.
“Raising that rate would be a deterrent for those out-of-town haulers taking advantage of the low cost for disposal,” Thompson says.
Thompson says raising the rate should cut down on outside haulers dumping trash in St. Joseph and increase the life of the landfill.
“I know we want to keep rates as low as possible,” Thompson says. “However, in doing so, that has attracted what we feel is additional volume from outside the immediate service area.”
Reinert disagrees with Thompson and disagrees with how the city has gone about its study of the landfill capacity. Reinert also says such a steep increase will raise trash service for the citizens of St. Joseph more than the projected $5.
“When you give us a 400% increase at the landfill, that’s not $5, not even close,” according to Reinert.
Reinert is not impressed with the study undertaken by the consultant who has proposed the increase.
“You guys have not done a proper study,” Reinert asserts. “You’ve based it all off of for-profit landfills when we are nowhere close to for-profit.”
Criticism of the proposed increase has prompted the city to schedule a public forum on the issue in the council chambers next week. The December 3rd forum will be followed by a St. Joseph City Council work session on the topic.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.