WAMPSVILLE, N.Y. — Madison County’s Solid Waste and Recycling Committee heard a presentation on Tuesday, March 26 regarding the state of the landfill.
The meeting, according to solid and recycling waste chair Melissa During, was part of a series of community and informational meetings. These meetings will help residents better understand all options being considered.
Madison County Public Information Officer Samantha Field said in December the county passed a resolution to work with Cornerstone Engineering and Geology to further explore how and if Madison County solid waste could increase tonnage on its own — including labor costs, equipment costs, flow, tonnage, and also policy changes that are coming in the next few years.
Rob Holmes, an engineer and consultant with Cornerstone joined civil engineer Chris Kohler to present a recent assessment to the committee. The assessment addressed the options the county is considering for the county landfill.
“The numbers are large, we aren’t going to sugarcoat that, but there are ways to soften those numbers,” Kohler said. “The county has adopted an approach that trash pays for trash. Your tipping fee is going to cover the cost of all solid waste management within the county … The county wants to pay for all capital improvements up front without bonding, without borrowing money.
“That means you have to have money on hand.”
Kohler said to meet its cash-only goals the county would have to save $11 million by 2032, or $1.3 million every year. Unexpected expenditures including yearly waste total capping, PFAS leachate removal programs and inflation could make it difficult.
In 2024 the landfill is projected to lose $4.9 million. To reverse that trend Kohler said the company could increase tipping fees and also increased waste tonnage accepted each year.
Doubling the tipping fees from $89.13 per ton to $177.31 would increase revenues to $4.9 million and allow the landfill to break even.
Increasing tonnage would show a profit but would bring along other challenges. It includes an estimated $55 per ton out-of-county tip fee, $500,000 in salaries for three additional compactors and excavators and $1,000,000 in estimated fee increases. The landfill would need to take in 104,455 more tons to see a profit.
“As you can see, it will be a painful 10 years,” Kohler said.
The landfill has been averaging 55,000 tons of waste per year over the past five years against a 60,000-ton capacity, Kohler said. Landfill staff is 19 but could employ 26 members. “Hiring people is very hard these days but that hasn’t stopped us from trying to fill those positions,” Kohler said.
Kohler described the landfill income levels as choppy, fluctuating between $700,000 and $1.5 million a year. “But it’s all positive, which is good,” he said.
The Madison County waste management program serves over 67,000 people in nearly 26,000 households in 15 towns, 10 villages and the city of Oneida. The program employs more than 30 people at the landfill, four transfer stations and the Materials Recovery Facility, which includes a decades-long partnership with the Madison-Cortland ARC.
Collectively, the program manages 55,000 tons of garbage and 3,500 tons of recyclables generated in Madison County each year.
“The county’s waste management program is at a crossroads,” Field said. “Current fees do not sufficiently cover day-to-day operational costs and capital expenses, or fully account for anticipated regulatory mandates and long-term management of the program. To preserve these programs for the community who benefit from them, for those who work in waste management, and to protect our legacy of strong environmental stewardship, changes will be needed.”
Madison County Solid Waste Committee is currently exploring the three viable long-term options — status quo with a significant increase in fees; Madison County increasing tonnage and operations on their own; or partnering with either a public or a private entity to increase tonnage and operations.
“The Madison County Solid Waste Committee is concerned with the issues facing our landfill today and in the future. They are open to exploring viable options,” Field said. “However, the landfill is not the same as what it was five, ten, or even 20 years ago. We are facing increased labor costs, increase in equipment costs, poor recycling markets, and more”.
“Even back in the 1990s and early 2000s the landfill faced its own issues, including a $500,000 deficit in the recycling program,” she continued. “The solid waste committee is focused on the issues we face today and the costs and regulations that will be coming in the future, not on the past.”
