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Solid Waste director says Columbia brings 55% of tonnage; recommends contract review after cost analysis
Summary
Maury County Solid Waste presented a breakdown showing the City of Columbia supplies 55% of transfer station tonnage; director urged revising the contract because city payments do not fully cover labor and depreciation costs and suggested a 6.5% rate increase as one option.
The Maury County Solid Waste director reported that the City of Columbia provided roughly 55% of materials by weight at the county transfer station and that current rates leave an estimated shortfall when labor and depreciation are considered.
Daniel Turner (Solid Waste) told the committee that Columbia has brought about 18,300 tons of waste through the transfer station so far this year. He said the county’s cost to dispose of that material is about $45.46 per ton and the city is charged $52.37 per ton, a $6.91-per-ton difference. Turner calculated that the $6.91 differential equates to about $126,000 contributed by the city to county operations given the current tonnage. After accounting for labor, recent capital depreciation (new transfer floor), and other costs applied at the 55% city share, Turner said there remains an uncovered cost in the neighborhood of $62,000 under current assumptions.
Turner presented a range of management options: revise the existing contract with the city (currently understood to be a month-to-month memorandum), increase the per-ton rate (rough estimate of 6.5% would raise the city rate to roughly $55.79/ton), or explore different routing/acceptance practices and staged burn-box days to handle brush and demolition material. He described the county’s new burn box, noted staff had trained on it and burned about 10 dump-truck loads of wood in initial runs, and discussed operational constraints at convenience centers, where space and can capacity limit how many outside customers the system can accept.
Some commissioners pressed for a fuller accounting that would include additional county administrative overhead and suggested Turner report back to the committee with a revised cost study and options for renegotiating the city contract. Turner said he would return with further analysis.
No formal contract change was made at the meeting; commissioners directed the Solid Waste director to study the numbers and return with recommendations for committee review and possible referral to the budget process.
