Commissioners vote to raise Grant County landfill fees

EPHRATA — Fees charged to dump garbage at the Grant County landfill will go up on March 1. Grant County commissioners approved a fee increase proposal after closing a public hearing Nov. 3.

The fee, called a tipping fee, will increase to $49.33 per ton. Currently the fee is $28.80 per ton. Some additional fees will increase as well.

Commissioners decided to implement the entire increase in March after a brief discussion about phasing it in over two years.

Commissioner Tom Taylor said the phased-in approach was suggested by Moses Lake City Manager Allison Williams. In a letter to commissioners, Williams said she thought phasing in the increases would help lessen their impact.

Mark Wash, chair of the county’s solid waste advisory committee, said the impact on individual households and businesses would not be as great as Williams estimated. He estimated individuals would see an increase of 6 to 8 percent for solid waste on their city utility bills.

Commissioner Richard Stevens said that changed his calculations. Taylor said the increase didn’t affect individual households as much as he thought.

It was the second of two public hearings on the fee proposal. Public comment was accepted at the first hearing in September and was closed at the end of that hearing. Stevens said most of the public testimony concerned the possible closure of the dumping station, called a drop box, near Mattawa. Commissioner Cindy Carter said the Mattawa drop box wouldn’t be addressed at Tuesday’s hearing, and it wasn’t. Commissioners decided to schedule a hearing on it at a later date, she said.

The minimum dumping fee was among the fees that will be raised. It goes from $3 to $4.93.

The minimum fee for “unsecured loads,” such as people hauling garbage in a car or truck, will remain unchanged. The fee is $5 for a passenger vehicle. For a pickup it’s $15 for more than three cubic yards.

The fee to get rid of appliances is the same as the basic fee, and increases to $49.33 per ton from $28.80 per ton. The fee to dispose of individual refrigerators or refrigeration units will remain unchanged, $7.25 per refrigerator.

The fees to dump tires also increases to $49.33 from $28.80. That fee applies to loads of 20 tires or less. The disposal fee for individual tires will remain the same – $3 per tire.