It's sounding like the moment of truth for Ulster County's waste management agency.

That's because Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency (UCRRA) has for a while now been staring down the barrel of the expiration of its contract with the county's current landfill, Seneca Meadows, 235 miles away. The agency’s alternatives are all political hot potatoes of varying intensity.

The problem announced itself before Easter in the form of a financial declaration of independence from UCRRA Executive Director Marc Rider. At a meeting of the agency's board of directors, he proposed that it be freed of county oversight of agency bonds in excess of certain amounts and indicated that the present cap of $10 million hampers the agency's ability to address controversial matters.

The core of the financial question, as with all things UCRRA, lies in the debate about placing a trash landfill in Ulster County. Landfill opponents see the legislature’s ability to cap UCRRA’s ability to issue bonds as their ultimate weapon, a weapon Rider is trying to take out of their hands.

Rider was reported to have told the meeting the agency's status as a component of county government hangs by one very slender fiscal thread – service fees paid by the county to the agency. It’s a thread he's willing to sever.

“The agency is a state-created public benefit corporation, which was formed by an act of the New York State Legislature,” Rider wrote in an email to us. “The agency is not, nor has it ever been, a department of Ulster County. The only powers of the county with regard to the agency are those established by law and by the terms of any agreement between the county and the agency. Absent the terms of the existing contract, the county would have no authority to limit the Agency's ability to issue bonds.”

Would the absence of caps leave UCRRA with a free hand regarding landfills?

“The process of siting a landfill has numerous checkpoints and approvals even without a cap on the agency's bonding authority,” Rider wrote. If a “suitable site” were identified, he said, state environmental reviews would be required and the years-long process of actual construction would involve “a rigorous process to determine and mitigate any impacts on the surrounding properties and communities.”

“Localities will be key stakeholders in the process of evaluating sites for a potential landfill,” Rider wrote. But, he added, while “the siting process must navigate local politics it is important to remember that the agency's mission is to protect public health and the environment for all residents of Ulster County. So, while any objections of a municipality to a proposed site are certainly important to consider, they cannot and will not be the final word on the matter.”

Legislative Minority Leader Kevin Roberts, representing Plattekill which has been considered for a landfill in the past, wants finality now: no local landfills, no bond cap removal and, ultimately, no UCRRA. Via email, he made a special point to disparage the agency's plan to spend $10 million on a reuse and recycling center along the lines of Habitat for Humanity.

“Last month,” he wrote, “the county legislature made a mistake by giving UCRRA a one-time allowance to bond up to $10 million. The $10 million indoor junkyard UCRRA is promoting has a failed business model and has not been vetted by the legislature. The intended use of the indoor junkyard is to divert waste from hitting the landfill. The $10 million disaster will not make a noticeable dent in waste diversion. Speaking of landfills, the landgrabbers at UCRRA want to bond over $100 million on a proposed landfill in either Wawarsing or Plattekill. We should never cede our duties as elected officials by giving UCRRA more bonding authority. It may be too late, but we should shred our contract with UCRRA, merge it under a county department and solve the [municipal solid waste] crisis once and for all.”