Board hires firm to help appraise MOSA assets

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February 2, 2012

BY JOE MAHONEY Staff Writer The Daily Star Thu Feb 02, 2012, 02:30 AM EST

COOPERSTOWN -- With Otsego County on the brink of getting state permission to quit MOSA, now come challenges for the soon-to-be former partners.

Figuring out the value of the assets held by the Montgomery-Otsego-Schoharie Solid Waste Authority is jumping out as bone of contention, even before the process of appraising the agency's real estate and equipment has begun.

"At first we were going to rely on MOSA's numbers -- but it became apparent we shouldn't be doing that," said county Rep. Linda Rowinski, chairwoman of Otsego County's Solid Waste and Environmental Concerns Committee. "We need to look out for our own interests."

To that end, the board Wednesday approved hiring a consulting firm for trash issues, Gerhardt LLC, to aid the county in appraising MOSA's assets, at a cost of up to $5,000.

The move came after both houses of the state Legislature gave approval in January to amended legislation that allows Otsego County to break off from MOSA. County officials said they expect Gov. Andrew Cuomo will approve the legislation this week.

The legislation says 40 percent of the MOSA assets belong to Otsego County.

"Once the governor signs the legislation, it is going to be up to us as to when we actually leave," Rowinski said. "So we need to be satisfied with the distribution. There needs to be some kind of a consensus, at the very least."

Meanwhile, MOSA has issued its own request for proposals for an appraiser to put a value on the agency's assets.

MOSA Executive Director Dennis Heaton said he would not be surprised if Otsego County and MOSA's leaders end up locked in a dispute over carving up the assets.

"I've known some people who got divorced and it worked out amicably, but I know a whole lot more people who got divorced and it didn't work out well," Heaton said. "There's obviously a lot of money at stake here."

He declined to state his estimate of MOSA's full value, saying he wants to wait for the appraisal to be completed.

The appraising, however, won't begin until March at the earliest, prompting Rowinski to suggest that MOSA is "foot-dragging."

Heaton predicted that once Otsego County goes its separate way on trash management, "The costs will go up for everybody."

Otsego County officials have contended that leaving MOSA will produce cost savings for the county. The county wants to form its own public-private partnership to oversee solid waste management.

In other MOSA developments, the Otsego County board learned that one of its three representatives on the solid waste authority executive board, Alex Shields of Richfield Springs, resigned from the position.

The board, meanwhile, reappointed another MOSA board member, Edward Wesnofske of Oneonta. Shields said he decided to quit MOSA because he learned the county board was prepared to reappoint Wesnofske.