Legislature approves amended five‑year contract with UCRRA, sets $60 million bonding cap and leaves indemnification unresolved

The Energy, Environment and Sustainability Committee on Sept. 2 voted to advance a five‑year service agreement between the Ulster County Legislature and the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA), adopting several committee amendments including a change to the permissible outstanding bond cap and deletions of two provisions related to the net-service-fee trigger and an “intent-to-bond” notice process.

After discussion, committee members amended the draft contract to increase the cap on bonds the agency may issue without prior legislative approval from $40,000,000 to $60,000,000. Director Mark Ryder told the committee that $60,000,000 would “allow us to do the bulk of the work when it comes to diversion and 0 waste” while recognizing the historical 1992 cap’s inflationary equivalent would be much higher. He described the cap as a means to preserve agency flexibility for capital projects while ensuring the legislature…