*Haulers expect garbage fee to be passed to consumers*

By Andrew Dowd
Leader-Telegram staff

Increasing a garbage fee to help fill the state’s budget gap will cost
customers and not improve service, waste haulers say.

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee’s budget included a $7.10
per ton increase to the tipping fee to raise about $50 million in new
revenue and discourage neighboring states from shipping garbage to
Wisconsin.

“The waste haulers will increase the prices to the customers to recoup
the tax,” said Lynn Morgan, a spokeswoman for Waste Management.

She added that a typical household generates about a ton of garbage
annually, meaning that family would pay the $7.10 increase for a year
of service. The current state-imposed tipping fee is $5.90 per ton.

If the budget bill passes with the committee’s tipping fee increase,
household garbage bills would increase by $4.10 on July 1 and an
additional $3 in October, Morgan said.

The problem is bigger for municipal governments that handle garbage
programs, which are more common in southern Wisconsin. For example,
the city of Milwaukee would pay an additional $2.3 million a year,
according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Eau Claire and surrounding communities require households and
businesses to contract directly with a garbage hauler. However, Rice
Lake and Barron both handle garbage service for their residents.

Based off their 2008 tonnages, Morgan said Rice Lake would have to
come up with an additional $18,400 to pay for the increase and Barron
would need $9,200 to pay for the state’s proposed tipping fee hike.

“These taxes directly affect the pocketbooks of local governments,
schools, businesses, households,” Morgan said.

The Eau Claire School District produces about 50 tons of garbage a
month from September through June, according to Mary Bohl of the
Building and Grounds Department. The $7.10 increase to the tipping fee
would cost the district more than $3,550 a year.

“The tipping fee itself is just one factor,” said Jon Tulman, Eau
Claire County recycling coordinator.

Operators include the state fees in the price charged per ton of
garbage brought to Wisconsin landfills.

Wisconsin landfill operators charged an average of $42 per ton in
2008, which includes the state fees, according to a Legislative Fiscal
Bureau report.

Morgan said she didn’t know if Waste Management planned any of their
own fee increases to cover business costs.

Tulman noted that the committee’s proposal still has to make it
through the full Legislature and then to Gov. Jim Doyle. The
governor’s budget proposal asked for a smaller increase of $4.40 per
ton.

Increasing the tipping fee by $7.10 might make out-of-state haulers
think again about bringing their garbage to Wisconsin, Tulman said.

“We’re probably coming more in line,” he added.

Minnesota’s landfill charges averaged $51 per ton in 2008 across the
state, but was $44 near the Wisconsin border.

Out-of-state garbage imported to Wisconsin did drop last year,
according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources statistics.

Wisconsin imported 1.9 million tons in 2007, but preliminary numbers
show that dropped to 1.7 million in 2008.

Dowd can be reached at 833-9204, 800-236-7077 or
[email protected].