MOSA ended 2009 on a high note, guaranteeing its creditors that about $10 million in debt will be paid off, according to Executive Director Dennis Heaton.
Heaton said Thursday the agreement to defease the debt will let the Montgomery-Otsego-Schoharie Solid Waste Management Authority lower its tipping fee from $106 per ton to $86 per ton in January.
Coupled with subsidies that counties pay, the actual tipping fee for haulers will be reduced to $72 per ton for waste from Otsego and Schoharie counties and $65.50 per ton for waste from Montgomery County.
``I've been talking to a number of haulers, encouraging them to come to MOSA, and I can tell you that $72 is a lot more attractive than $106,'' Heaton said. ``I don't think we have to have the lowest tipping fee, but we have to be competitive and this is a big step in the right direction."
Member counties agreed to the defeasing of debt several weeks ago. Heaton said the legal agreement was completed Tuesday.
The authority continues to have enough reserve money to operate, he noted.
Prior to defeasing the debt,
MOSA's member counties agreed to guarantee that landfills MOSA has used in Montgomery and Otsego counties will be monitored and, if need be, remediated.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation required such an agreement before it would allow member counties to withdraw from the Authority.
The 25-year contract binding
MOSA's member counties together is slated to expire in 2014. In 2009, some members of the Otsego County Board of Representatives, including Chairman James Powers, R-Butternuts, have said they would like to see Otsego County withdraw from MOSA, possibly before the contract expires.
This would require rewriting the contract, essentially allotting assets and liabilities, a task that may prove challenging, Heaton, Powers and others have said.
If Otsego County were to leave MOSA, it could operate its own solid waste system, using the county's solid-waste user fee to fund the program.
Powers said Wednesday that he believes MOSA has improved mostly because Otsego County has been threatening to opt out.
Now, even with MOSA looking better, Powers still believes the county would be better off operating its own system.
``Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,'' he quoted.
Rep. Stephen Fournier, R-Milford, a member of the county's Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns Committee, said support on the board for MOSA is tepid, but he believes the county should not automatically try to leave the authority before the contract expires.
Starting a new solid waste system would not be an easy or inexpensive task, he said.
``Before we decide to get out, we need more information on where that will leave us,'' he said.
