There is only one way to avoid criticism: do
nothing, say nothing, and be nothing---Aristotle
Kewaunee County Landfill
– Phase III Expansion Decision
In 2012, the Highway / Solid Waste Committee had voted
to not proceed to Phase III expansion for the landfill. At that time
there was about 260,000 cubic yards of space left in the landfill. By not
proceeding with Phase III, the current cell at the landfill would have been
filled and the landfill closed in an undetermined number of years. Subsequently
that decision was placed in front of the board in a resolution. That
resolution was tabled indefinitely as several of the board members, including me, thought the
landfill could be saved.
Following the tabling of this resolution I worked with the
committee and the Administrator to put together what we called an "Extend
the Life" option for the landfill. What this option was designed to
do was; raise the tipping fee and thus reduce the amount of refuse coming into
the landfill which, in turn would extend the life of the landfill by not
filling the space as quickly. By doing this, it allowed additional time
to further evaluate the feasibility of going into the Phase III expansion.
The numbers seemed to support the idea that a Phase III expansion was
something that was economically feasible and could be done.
However, in the analysis of the numbers that I put together in May
of 2012, I was not given, nor was I aware that, in 2013 the landfill would
spend $1.9M with the Highway Department to have work done at the site to cover
certain cells and complete other work at the site. That money was taken
from the general fund. Later, we did
offset $700K of that expense as we received a payment from the DNR for money we
had accrued earlier for closure. I was
also not aware there had been another $600,000 loan from the general fund. So,
as you would conclude, my projections proved to be incorrect as the old adage
in reporting, “garbage in garbage out” proved to be true.
So, here we are in 2015, faced once again with the decision as to
whether or not the county should proceed with Phase III expansion for another 3
cells. Those expansion cells would
provide another 650,000 cubic yards of space and would take us out another 15
years or so. The cost of this expansion
would be about $5,500,000. The question
arose, what analysis could provide us the kind of financial reporting that
would be a guide for the committee to make a decision. After collaborating with the auditing firm,
Schenk, that handles the county audits, it was determined the best way evaluate
the landfill would be compile the data from the annual audits. So, that is what I did, and here are the
results:
Historical Tonnage Data
| Year |
Total Tonnage |
Total Cover |
% of Cover |
Rev. Tonnage |
| 2007 |
42,609 |
17,647 |
41.4% |
24,962 |
| 2008 |
55,293 |
25,407 |
45.9% |
29,886 |
| 2009 |
60,797 |
38,592 |
63.5% |
22,205 |
| 2010 |
56,817 |
25,649 |
45.1% |
31,168 |
| 2011 |
47,256 |
16,539 |
35.1% |
30,717 |
| 2012 |
44,306 |
17,164 |
38.7% |
27,142 |
| 2013 |
33,022 |
13,650 |
41.3% |
19,372 |
| 2014 |
36,533 |
11,411 |
31.2% |
25,122 |
| Totals |
376,633 |
166,059 |
44% |
210,574 |
Cover is broken out separately as we do not pay the DNR the normal
$13.50 per ton fee for cover material (Just so you understand, every day after the refuse is taken to
the hill, the DNR requires that refuse to be covered with some type of material
that does not allow any of the refuse to blow away that is called “cover”). However,
notice the number 44% total cover. The
“experts” tell us the cover should not exceed 20%. That means we’ve used about 90,000 cubic
yards for cover over the years that should have been used for refuse that could
have been billable space. That equates
to a potential loss of $2.7M of revenue.
Depending on who you talk to, the reasons we’ve had so many tons of
cover is because of design, or simply because we had too much space open on any
given day.
So here are the audited results.
These numbers came directly out of the 2007 – 2013 Schenk Kewaunee
County Audit reports.
2007 - 2013 Audited Results
Year
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
|
| Profit Loss |
($145,608) |
($487,856) |
($866,444) |
$152,528 |
$72,122 |
17,380 |
($1,397,989) |
|
| 2007 – 2013 7 Year Audited Results |
||||||||
| Total 7 Yr. Loss ($2,655,867) |
Per Year Ave Loss ($379,410) |
|||||||
PLUS
| Add-In 2010 - $844,728 (one-time forgiveness of Debt) |
||
| Adjusted 7
Yr. Loss ($3,604,987) |
Per Year Ave Loss ($514,998) |
|
PLUS
| $600,000
(Additional Loan unlikely to pay back) |
|
| Adjusted
(after loan repayment) ($4,204,987) |
P/Year Ave Loss ($600,712) |
Some explanation… the $844,728 represented above was money that
was owed by the landfill to the county general fund form a loan that had been
given to the landfill in 1989. In 2010,
the County Board determined it was unlikely this money would ever be paid back
and therefore forgave the debt. The
other $600,000 loan was once again extended from the general fund to cover
other losses/expenses at the landfill. At this time the Landfill operations is
indebted to the general fund for $1,800,000.
In reviewing these
results, it was difficult for the Highway / Solid Waste Committee to come to
any other conclusion than to not proceed with Phase III. It is a logical, practical conclusion.
Couple the past results with projections going forward that are reflect
future losses one can conclude Kewaunee County should not be in the landfill
business.
There are a number of reasons this landfill has failed to operate
within budget. Yes, overall design and
management are two of the contributors.
However, competition is a major contributor. Commercial haulers can haul to BOW (Brown,
Outagamie, and Winnebago) site for $34 per ton.
They can haul to Green Bay transfer site for $41.25 per ton our rate is
$48 per ton (and keep in mind, we can’t make money at that rate). Advanced Disposal has a site South of Green
Bay and Waste Management has a site in the Whitelaw area. The current BOW site has several years of
life in it, but as soon as that is filled they have another 1,500 acre site
near Hollandtown that will be opened.
So, the competition is not going to disappear, in fact, it may become
more intense. To efficiently operate a
commercial landfill, volume of refuse is key.
We do not have enough garbage in our county to make the landfill operate
profitably. Our physical location is
also somewhat detrimental as we have very little opportunity to both our East
and North, and if one travels 15 miles west of the landfill, it is financially
better to go to Brown County
The commercial haulers have been contributing upwards of 88% of
the refuse that comes to the landfill. In
2012 we began to try to assemble data on the landfill as to the origin of the
refuse. We already knew the origin of
garbage when someone pulled in with their private pickup truck or car and
trailer, however we didn’t know the origin of refuse for commercial
haulers. So, each time a commercial
truck would come to the landfill, the driver was asked where the load came
from. From this data, and we were able
to extrapolate what the various municipalities, cities and townships were, or
had potential to haul to the landfill and the results were interesting. Of the total 36,500 tons that came to the
landfill in 2014 15,000 ton came from out of county, with 20,000 ton of
Kewaunee County refuse brought in by commercial haulers and only 1,300 ton were
from local residents/local users.
IMPORTANT NOTE – If the board votes in favor of not proceeding
with Phase III - that does not mean the landfill is closed. We have several years of space remaining to
fill in its current configuration. The
concern or goal going forward then is to somehow find a way that our residents
can continue bringing their small private loads to the landfill site for
processing. That will be the next
decision the Highway / Solid Waste Committee will be faced with, and, there are
reasonable solutions that can meet that goal.
The immediate decision at hand though is to decide whether or not a
Phase III development makes sense, and all the information we have at hand
indicates Phase III should not be attempted.
New County Administrator
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Last
October, when we were putting together our county’s budget, we budgeted for a
new position of Director of Finance for the County. We have had problems in several of our
operations in determining our financial status at any given time. Often times we would not receive a factual
report until 6 or 8 months after the end of the year results when our audit of any
given department was completed.
Obviously, by then it is too late to take any corrective or preemptive
steps to mitigate any losses.
We
are very pleased to announce we have hired Paul Kunesh who will be joining the
county on March 23rd as our new Kewaunee County Director of
Finance. Paul has 18 years of experience
with Manitowoc County and comes to us with a solid understanding of public
finance. Paul will report to the County
Administrator Mr. Feldt. You may
recognize the name Kunesh, yes, he is a product of Kewaunee County, born and
raised in Carlton Township, graduated from Kewaunee High School and went on to
UWGB for a degree in finance.
IMPORTANT! - VOTE ON APRIL 7th
On April 7th all eligible Kewaunee County residents will have the opportunity to go to the polls to vote. On the April 7th ballot is an Ordinance that you will be asked to approve or disapprove. This ordinance has been designed to protect the public health and the County’s groundwater.
This is the actual verbiage that will appear on the ballots—
“Shall the town/city/village (in which you reside) approve the application of Kewaunee County Ordinance #173-9-14 to the town/city/village in order to prevent groundwater pollution, protect human health, prevent the spread of disease, and promote the general welfare of the citizens of Kewaunee County by regulating local land use and management practices in the town/city/village, specifically through controlling the application of wastes on shallow carbonate bedrock areas as well as direct conduits to groundwater?”
Earlier this year, the Kewaunee County Land and Water Conservation Committee and the Full County Board (your elected County representatives) voted unanimously to approve this new ordinance. Each voting jurisdiction (Town, Village, and City) will now vote to adopt this resolution for implementation in their jurisdiction. If passed, this new ordinance will become effective on January 1, 2016.
Simply put, the resolution states that, Wastes (typically manure) shall not be applied to land having less than 20 feet of soil depth to bedrock from January 1st to April 15th of each year. This is the time of year when our lands are most susceptible to groundwater contamination from melting snow and spring rains.
Exemptions to this ordinance can be requested by farms in cases of hardship or special circumstances. Your Land and Water Conservation Committee and the Full County Board believe that this ordinance is a solid first step in dealing with the high levels of water contamination found throughout Kewaunee County.
A “Yes” vote means you support the Public Health and Groundwater Ordinance as approved unanimously by your County Land and Water Conservation Committee and the full County Board.
A “No” vote means you do not support the Public Health and Groundwater Ordinance.
Please join with your County Land and Water Conservation Committee and your County Board in supporting this first step toward cleaner water and an improved quality of life for all Kewaunee County citizens by voting YES on April 7th.
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