DENTON — Caroline County could remain the host of the regional landfill for 12 years longer than originally planned.
At a Caroline County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, Queen Anne’s County Administrator Todd Mohn, CPA and Queen Anne’s County Consultant Joe Zimmerman and Queen Anne’s County Commissioner James Moran came to speak about the possibility of using the Mid-Shore II Regional Landfill in Ridgely through 2042 rather than building a new landfill in Queen Anne’s County for 2031.
During their presentation, Mohn said Maryland Environmental Service has been working with county administrators to evaluate the future of Mid-Shore II, and it has concluded that the landfill could “easily provide service” to the citizens of the region through approximately 2042.
The Mid-Shore II landfill, which was opened in 2011, provides services to Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne’s and Kent counties.
Mohn explained that in the late 1980s, due to new federal regulations, the counties had to close their landfills and and replace them with new landfills. In response to this new regulation, Talbot, Caroline and Queen Anne’s counties engaged with MES to form a partnership where each county would take turns hosting a landfill for a 20-year term. Kent County later joined that partnership.
Caroline County is hosting the current landfill and, under the original arrangement, would be off the hook at the end of 2030 when Queen Anne’s County would take over the responsibility of host. However, if the partnering counties agreed, they could instead extend the lifetime of Caroline County’s landfill.
During the presentation, Mohn listed reasons why Queen Anne’s County feels this option makes sense. For Caroline County, he said that this option would provide economic stability for Ridgely businesses and that the county would get a host fee for the extension of service.
He said the option would also maximize the value of public infrastructure, defer liability for debt to construct a new landfill, maintain shorter haul routes for Talbot County and avoid the cost of a transfer operation.
Moran said landfills are at a premium.
“We want to maximize that,” he said about the space in each landfill. “And if this (provides) us with an extra 30 years of life that we didn’t have coming into this 80-year deal, then that’s a good thing for the environment, it’s a good thing for the Eastern Shore.”
If this proposal moves forward, all of the partnering counties would need to come to an agreement on a modified arrangement, including the host fee for Caroline County.
At the meeting, Zimmerman presented three options for host fees and annual tipping fee increases for the Mid-Shore II landfill:
A host fee of $2 per ton of waste growing to $4 after 2031 with an annual increase of 1.15% in tipping fees.A host fee of $3 per ton of waste growing to $5 after 2031 with an annual increase of 1.35% in tipping fees.A host fee of $4 per ton of waste growing to $6 after 2031 with an annual increase of 1.5% in tipping fees.
“We think these are achievable options,” Zimmerman said about the three options. “It’s really the question of how much risk the counties want to take on in terms of their competitive posture.”
He said that historically, tipping fees have, on average, annually increased by 1.42%.
Caroline County Commission President Travis Breeding said he has made it clear to MES that he agrees with keeping the landfill operating in Caroline County for environmental and economic reasons, but he would like to make sure the county retains “any of the savings associated with the extension of the landfill.”
He said the county’s residents are the ones burdened with the affects of the landfill operations, including truck traffic and bad smells from time to time.
Commission Vice President Larry Porter spoke about the impact of MES operations on the county.
He said that although this proposal is an opportunity to generate more revenue without raising property taxes, having the landfill in the county has affected the condition of the roads where trash is being driven, including trash left on those roads. He said the extension of the landfill’s services would be a hard sell to the public.
“For me, anything that we do is going to have to involve MES stepping up to the plate and fulfilling what I think the obligations and responsibilities are,” he said, adding that roads would be part of that obligation, in his mind.
Porter asked the presenters if it appears that the other partnering counties are on board with keeping the landfill in Caroline County and paying a host fee. Mohn said everyone seems to be in agreement.
“The question is, what is that host fee going to be?” Mohn said.
Porter said the county will have a public hearing on this in the future. He did not give a date.
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