A temporary amendment to the contract between Paris and Waste Management will reduce for three years the amount per ton paid to the town by the Pheasant Run landfill.
Kim Howarth, an attorney who represented the town in negotiating the amendment, said the town sought the agreement in the interest of keeping the landfill operating — and sending revenue to the town. The revenue from the landfill is the prime source of revenue for the town, which does not levy a town property tax and has in the past paid residents county taxes.
Under the contract before the amendment, Waste Management paid $4.20 per ton of waste dumped at the site to the town. There also was a minimum monthly payment provision of $150,000.
Under the amendment, Waste Management will pay the town $3.25 per ton of waste. There is a stepped scale that increases the payment if volume of waste handled increases. If the landfill reaches 600,000 tons, the payment per ton returns to $4.20.
In answer to a couple of audience questions about the operating cost of the Pheasant Run operation, Dennis Wilt of Waste Management said at current operating levels, the amount being sent to the town will exceed the company’s own profits.
The amendment will take effect Jan. 1, 2012 and end Dec. 31, 2014.
In a recap of the situation leading up to tonight, Howarth said Waste Management missed a minimum payment to the town in late 2009. In 2010, the parties held a contentious meeting during which both sides threatened to sue the other. Waste Management said a drastic loss of business was threatening keeping the landfill open.
However, cooler heads prevailed on the town side after officials decided it was in the best interest of the town to work to keep the landfill open, rather than see it close, Howarth said.
Everyone at Wednesday’s meeting seemed to agree that the culprit in the landfill’s decreased business has been the increase in state tipping fees that went from about $4/ ton to about $13/ ton in the course of about a year. As a result, Illinois solid waste disposal cooperatives that used to dump at Wisconsin landfills now dump in Illinois, Howarth said.
Figures presented Wednesday suggested that Waste Management garbage from Illinois has decreased about 90 percent.
The board vote on accepting the amendment was unanimous in favor of acceptance.
“It was a hard decision,” said Supervisor Ken Monson. “I believe this is the right thing for the town.”
About the amendment, Wilk said “I believe this will create a situation where we will be able to operate …”
The amendment also provides that the landfill will be open to Paris residents from 8 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of the month and the Saturday following Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. In addition, the landfill will continue to be open to residents Monday-Friday during regular operating hours.
The town got bullied. WM’s lawyers were bigger than Paris’. I have all the facts that are made public and that’s certainly looks like that’s what happened.
Umm, I didn’t see anything about the “minimum monthly payment provision of $150,000” in this new deal – did we roll over on that one too?
Also, were documents presented supporting WM’s comment about “the amount being sent to the town will exceed the company’s own profits” – because honestly if that’s true then we don’t have a leg to stand on, whether we like it or not – no company or individual is going to pay out more than their incoming profits, period.
Also, does this statement include the $150K monthly payment, or is what they are sending monthly exceed their profits without the $150K? Time for Change, you stated that you have all of the facts that were made public, can you answer this?
If this was substantiated then that’s the end of this story unless the tipping fee can be addressed.
So then my next concern is, what is the Board doing about creating a revenue stream to replace this?
We’ll never know because they don’t post any meetings.
The board of secrets will never let the residents know all the truths. The town got scared that they would close the landfill. This will never happen because they have too much to loose because it they close it, it’s permanently closed. WM would loose more by doing that. Small town politicians steamrolled by a very large corporation. Period. If this isn’t true then the Board needs to release all documents and meeting minutes including all offers both ways.
According to the website, there’s a meeting at 5:30 for some sort of development along I94. Why not be more specific? What’s the Town selling or buying? Is this an annexation thing? Hey – we’ll never know until after it’s done and over with. Who’s developing? Just what Paris needs – a strip mall. Instead of developing along I94, how about letting people build houses? It really IS “Time for a Change”.