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City of Salina seeks continued county support for drive-through recycling center
Summary
City officials presented operations data for the Salina Drive-Through Recycling Center and asked Saline County to continue contributing to the facility, which processes about 750 tons of recycling annually; the city requested maintaining an annual county contribution (transcript references $10,000 historically).
City of Salina public-works officials briefed Saline County commissioners April 29 on the drive-through recycling center's operations and asked the county to continue participating in funding the service.
Jim Kowatch, Salina deputy director of public works and city engineer, introduced Tiffany Luna, the city's new operations manager, and described the center's history and usage. Kowatch said the drive-through center (established February 2018) processes roughly 350 customers per day and about 750 tons of recycling a year; the operation now uses three sanitation trucks and a staff of three at the site.
Kowatch told commissioners the center is funded primarily through a monthly recycling fee assessed on city water accounts (reported at $1.65 per month per account) and that the city historically asked the county to cover a portion of the recycling budget. Kowatch said the county's historical share was about 55% of a smaller past annual budget and cited a prior county contribution of $10,000; he asked the county to continue a standard interlocal agreement and suggested staff could work with the county administrator to formalize the arrangement.
Commissioners praised the center's convenience and customer service; no funding decision was made at the meeting. Kowatch said the current city budget for recycling operations is just over $300,000 and with recent staffing and equipment additions the request to the county remains a relatively small share of total operating cost.
Ending: City staff will work with county administration on an interlocal agreement for future county participation; the county did not vote on a contribution during the meeting.
