KINGSTON – Ulster County Legislators Ken Wishnick, D-New Paltz and Carl Belfiglio, R-Esopus, have proposed a restructuring plan that includes flow control, which would require all waste generated in Ulster County to be brought to the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency, or UCRRA, the county subsidized agency that handles trash disposal and recycling efforts.

Wishnick said the review document "analyzes the current dilemma and names alternatives" to a trash agency that owes approximately $28 million in bonds, "currently repayable at $2.8 million annually," has outdated, obsolete recycling technology and gives higher discounts to larger trash haulers than they charge local towns and municipalities.

The report also blames a legislative decision in 2003 to refinance the trash agency's debt and extend the term of the bonds without extending the contracts guaranteeing delivery of waste. "The legislature should not have approved extending the term of the bonds without the UCRRA first obtaining contract extensions," Wishnick said.

Legislator Rich Parete, D-Marbletown, who served on the committee that oversaw the RRA in 2003, recalls that the vote was split along party lines. "The original bonds were supposed to be paid off in 2013," Parete said. "The [Republican] majority wanted to push the fees way out — they were refinancing loans with only two percent interest rates."

The Wishnick/Belfiglio report examined selling off the UCRRA assets and assessed the value of the trash agency at $11 million with a remaining debt of $28 million. "In the unlikely event that a full price buyer could be found, then Ulster County taxpayers would immediately need to come up with the remaining debt of $17 million," Wishnick said. "Nonetheless, privatization can bring many benefits and should be considered once the debt is paid off."

Despite what Wishnick says, he recommends flow control, where all of the county's solid waste would be brought to the UCRRA for disposal. The report recommends that all users pay the same price per ton, which would "create a level playing field for towns and small local waste haulers; currently, Waste Management pays tipping fees of $74.50 per ton, yet local towns pay $90, plus fuel surcharges, per ton.

Wishnick contends that with flow control, the volume of waste delivered "would be predictable and the finances of the agency secure and sustainable."

Parete, however, is opposed to the concept of flow control because he sees it as monopolistic. "Flow control means the agency can set rates," he said. "There is no competition and residents will have no other options."

The Democrat favors an approach that assesses all the properties in the county and spreads the cost of the Net Service Fees — currently $1.4 million annually, but expected to balloon to $2.5 million in 2013 — evenly across the county. "Everyone in the county gets free recycling and I think they're getting a good price at $1.4 million," Parete said. "With a user tax like the one proposed in the plan, people could see costs for trash service increase 30 percent."

The report notes that the major obstacle to a countywide solid waste tax is that it would count against the county's 2 percent spending cap, which would lead to further cutbacks in county government services and "is still a trash tax unfairly based on property tax value alone."

Ken Ronk, R-Shawangunk, fully supports the plan, calling it "the most well thought-out product" he's seen from this legislature. "With flow control, the agency could possibly generate enough trash to negotiate a contract with a company like Taylor Biomass."

Supporters of flow control say the law would grant the UCRRA broad authority over trash haulers, including, the requirement that haulers install and maintain global position devices on company vehicles. It would also permit the agency to review trash hauling companies' records, require each hauler to have substantive public liability insurance and proper licensing, with information on the number of collection vehicles, including make, year, model, cubic capacity and state registration number. In addition, it would require haulers to provide the number and location of all waste or recycling containers in the county, provide the agency with information regarding the daily route and pickup schedule and give the agency the authority to deny licenses for applicants that have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor that would "render such person unfit" for trash collection.