By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
Otsego County is behind on its garbage deliveries to MOSA for the first two months of 2010.
Because the county is bound by contract to deliver a set number of tons of garbage every year, or pay for undelivered loads, falling behind can be costly.
Last year, deliveries were short and the county had to pay a penalty of $41,446 to the Montgomery-Otsego-Schoharie Solid Waste Management Authority. The bill might have been far higher had MOSA not reduced the county's obligation from 40,917 tons to 38,871 tons last summer.
MOSA also considered that the county's collection of recyclables in 2009 was above projections and accordingly reduced the penalty by $18,444, from $59,890 to the ultimate bill of $41,446.
For 2010, the county's quota, or guarantee annual tonnage, is the same as the adjusted GAT for 2009: 38,871 tons.
The GAT is set for a year, but garbage deliveries vary with seasons, usually ebbing in cold weather, rising in warm. The GAT is tallied each month however, and with historical data as a guide, the monthly totals can roughly forecast whether deliveries will meet annual goals.
Using this methodology, the county was supposed to deliver 2,613 tons in January, but fell 259 tons short, according to Laura Child, clerk-auditor of the Otsego County Board of Representatives.
In February, the county was supposed to deliver 2,377 tons, but only 2,091 crossed MOSA's scales, a shortfall of 286 tons.
``At this point, we're farther behind than last year,'' she said.
Karen Sullivan, the county's senior planner, said the recession is partly to blame. ``When people buy less, they throw out less, too,'' she said.
``It's not just here; I've read about deliveries being down 20 percent nationally,'' she said.
Another problem, from the county's perspective, is that not all haulers collecting in the county are taking the waste to MOSA, she noted.
Rep. Stephen Fournier, R-Milford, chair of the county's Solid Waste & Environmental Concerns Committee, said that the hauler, WRE Enterprises of Sidney, is taking garbage out of the system.
Denton Reed, who operates WRE, could not be reached at work late Wednesday afternoon.
Fournier said he doesn't blame Reed for not patronizing MOSA, because Reed is able to dispose of waste less expensively at other facilities.
``He's in business to make money; I understand that,'' said Fournier, who added that Reed has offered to take some of his loads to MOSA, an offer the Solid Waste & Environmental Concerns Committee informally rejected.
WRE also handles the county's recyclables at a cost of $77.50 per ton, although Sullivan said the county will soon issue a request for proposals to see it another vendor, or even the county itself, can do the job more cheaply.
