Residents urge rigorous financial review of Vernon County landfill expansion

At a joint meeting of the Vernon County Finance Committee and the Landfill Committee, residents pressed county leaders to clarify the financial and environmental case for expanding the county landfill.

"I am asking you today to consider what is your 2026 vision?" said Anna Jo Dorr, who identified herself as a teacher and longtime participant in landfill debates. Dorr told the committees the engineers' feasibility study addresses physical feasibility but "not financial viability" or a regional market analysis and urged the county to model the true costs of daily cover, leachate, groundwater protections and closure obligations.

KJ Jacobson, who said he has logged "over 3,500 hours" of study on the issue, told the committee he found missing accruals and utility bills in the landfill general ledger and warned that depreciation and long-term-care liabilities had not been budgeted historically. "There's a bunch of gaslighting going on," Jacobson said, arguing the audit adjustments change the picture of whether the enterprise fund is sustainable.

Other public commenters voiced similar concerns. Florence Sandok and Tom Repke said environmental risks and historic methane problems at the old town dump underscore the need for caution; several other residents urged retaining local waste service but asked for transparent answers before proceeding.

The committees closed public comment and asked staff to return with clearer, itemized financial data and DNR responses to outstanding technical questions before making policy or funding decisions.