By Nick Halter • For the Marshfield News-Herald •

Wausau-area municipal leaders are unhappy about Gov. Jim Doyle’s
proposed landfill fee increases, which seem likely to be passed on to
local taxpayers and businesses.
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They also wonder where that money will go, considering that some of
the environmental projects the fees were supposed to fund would be
eliminated under the budget.

Doyle’s budget calls for nearly doubling the fee charged for waste
brought into Wisconsin landfills — from $5.60 a ton to $10 a ton —
as early as this summer.

In a community such as Weston, that would equate to an additional
$20,000 a year in what are called “tipping” fees, according to
Marathon County figures on waste generated by municipalities. That
would translate to about a $4 annual increase in household garbage
rates, said Village Administrator Dean Zuleger.

Smaller communities and businesses would be hit hardest by the fees,
said Marathon County’s Solid Waste Administrator Meleesa Johnson.

For example, Domtar Paper Co. of Rothschild, based on county numbers,
would pay an additional $70,000 a year in waste costs.

Doyle’s budget would eliminate three programs that help communities
and businesses reduce waste, dispose of hazardous materials properly
and aid recycling programs, Johnson said.

Johnson asked the Marathon County Solid Waste Management Board to
adopt a resolution opposing the fees, and members voted unanimously
Monday to support the resolution. They also asked the County Board to
oppose the fees.

Cory Tomczyk, owner of Mosinee waste hauling company IROW, said the
fees will have to be passed on to customers.

He, too, questioned where the new fee revenues would go, because the
money is supposed to fund related programs to reduce waste and
increase recycling.

Adam Collins, spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources, said $30 million will stay in recycling programs and
another $19 million will go into paying off bonds used for past
environmental cleanup and abatement projects.

Other money will be put into renewable energy projects, he said, but
he did not know how much that would be.

“This increase will bring Wisconsin roughly in line with neighboring
states’ (tipping fees),” Collins said.