ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District has completed three public hearings on its proposed fee on improved parcels in Athens and Hocking counties.
The district’s policy committee recommended convening the hearings, which were held between June 25 to July 9 in Athens, Nelsonville and Logan. The district wants to impose an annual fee on improved parcels — land with buildings — to underwrite its operations in its two counties. The $24 annual fee would remain in effect, unchanged, for 10 years.
Athens County property owners expressed mixed opinions at the hearings. Some are in favor, some are not, and some are simply confused.
Athens hearing
About 50 people attended the first hearing, held June 25 at the Athens Community Center. Among the elected officials present was Athens County Commissioner and district chairman Chris Chmiel.
In a presentation that began the hearing, solid waste district Director Jane Forrest Redfern outlined the district’s extensive services, including providing 22 recycling drop-offs in Athens County; working with the Athens County Sheriff’s Office and Athens City-County Health Department on clean-ups; and hosting household hazardous waste and hard-to-recycling materials collection events, among other duties.
The presentation shared at the parcel fee public hearings. Provided by Jane Forrest Redfern.
The improved parcel fee is proposed as a way for the district to underwrite, sustain and potentially expand its operations, she said. The district’s operations are currently funded by charging per-ton fees to haulers for dumping waste in the landfill in Nelsonville — which is owned by Rumple Waste & Recycling.
More than 117,000 tons of waste make it into the local landfill per year, Forrest Redfern said — and that volume is not expected to increase over the next 15 years, so revenue from dumping fees won’t increase, either.
“If the parcel fee is rejected, the only option is to raise the generation and landfill fees — doing nothing is not an option,” Forrest Redfern said. “And so your haulers are gonna be affected, your cities, your companies, schools — you as an individual will be affected if the generation fees go up.”
Redfern said that because the district’s previous management plan did not include a plan for revenue, it is drawing on its savings to fund operations.
“We have to find out a way to fund the solid waste district because right now it’s a $200,000 deficit,” Forrest Redfern said. “We have two options: We have increased the tiered fees, or keep the current tiered fees, and then add the generation fee. And with the generation fee, we have to have the recycling center — we can’t have the parcel fee without having some infrastructure.”
The district proposes purchasing the two compost facilities currently owned and run by Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, as well as the 7-acre site they sit on. The district would receive revenue by leasing the facilities to the Southeast Ohio Recycling Terminal Council of Governments. That purchase would make the district eligible to impose a parcel fee.
Assuming a 5% delinquency rate, the proposed parcel fee would generate an estimated $799,000 annually. About half of that would go towards purchase of the recycling center via a 10-year, $1.2 million bond.
Although the Q&A session that followed Forrest Redfern’s presentation quickly devolved into residents simply commenting on the proposal, there were some questions posed.
The alternative: How would raising landfill rates affect property owners?
One man asked how raising tiered fees would impact individuals. Forrest Redfern responded that one way or another, property owners will bear increasing costs for solid waste management. The difference, she said, is whether that money comes from a parcel fee or higher fees from haulers.
When trash haulers take their loads to the landfill, they’re charged a fee that is basically “tax on all of the garbage” the area generates, Forrest Redfern said. Haulers pay landfill fees, state fees and the solid waste district fee. “Right now they’re paying $3 for us,” she said, but without the parcel fee, the district will have to hike fees to $5 per ton.
“How is a local hauler gonna be able to make that up?” she asked. “It’s basically doubling the local fees on top of the regular landfill fees.” The answer, she said, is that haulers may have to hike the rates they charge for picking up trash.
Supporters of the parcel fee have suggested that Rumpke is big enough to absorb the fee in the short term, undercutting what smaller, locally based haulers would need to remain viable. Those haulers would be driven out of business, proponents say, giving Rumpke a local monopoly that would allow it to hike its fees to any level.
What is the relationship between the SORT COG and the parcel fee?
Some meeting participants asked how the SORT COG — which will absorb the operations of Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers — relates to the district’s proposed parcel fee.
The solid waste district is a founding member of the COG, which is a separate legal entity. The COG will absorb AHRC’s business functions, but not its property. AHRC employees will be employees of the COG; entities that have contracts with AHRC will become COG clients. The COG will generate revenue from fees charged to clients for solid waste management and the sale of recycling materials.
The solid waste district plans to purchase AHRC’s property — including the 7-acre site in Hocking County and the two composting facilities. Buying the infrastructure also allows the solid waste district to pursue the parcel fee to fund the purchase as well as maintain other services. The district would lease the facilities to the COG to generate revenue for the district and give the COG the infrastructure to sustain local recycling services.
“AHRC was never a public utility, it was always a private nonprofit. It had a board of directors that was composed of the two boards of commissioners and the director of AHRC who was also the director of the Solid Waste district,” Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason said in an email. The county forced a split between the two in 2014, citing liability concerns.
A fire department can’t operate efficiently without a firehouse, Forrest Redfern said. Similarly, the solid waste district can’t manage recycling without a recycling center.
The district has been working on updating its state-mandated 15-year plan for almost two years, Forrest Redfern said — which predates AHRC’s crisis, which was triggered in December 2023 when the city of Athens chose to contract with Rumpke for trash hauling.
“It just so happened that the recycling center — and the whole thing — happened during our planning period,” Forrest Redfern said.
The district already knew that it would have to increase revenue somehow, she said. Purchasing the recycling center facilities not only would provide revenue for the district, but also maintain an established local business.
“We would’ve had to raise the rates anyway. All we’re doing is giving you an option to have an asset that we helped build as a community … and have control over our recycling infrastructure,” she said. Otherwise, AHRC’s infrastructure could be sold “to the highest bidder,” she noted.
Why not charge a per-use fee for recycling drop off?
Another man asked why individuals are charged for dropping off their recycling at the 22 locations around the district, instead of having the solid waste district subsidize recycling. Initially, that’s how the district wanted to pursue the parcel fee, she said; however, per legal advice, it must operate a recycling center, not drop-offs.
Forrest Redfern explained that state law requires solid waste districts to divert waste away from landfills, with a goal of 25% recycling. The state also mandates that 80% of a county’s population have access to recycling.
Otherwise, individuals’ access to recycling is limited: AHRC offers the only curbside recycling pickup outside the city of Athens, Forrest Redfern noted. She added that 4,100 tons of recycling are dropped off across the county per year.
She also noted that many government services aren’t pay-per-use because they’re an overall public good.
“I don’t use schools anymore, but I pay for them,” Forrest Redfern said.
Nelsonville meeting
The second public hearing was held July 2 at the Nelsonville Public Library. Around 40 people attended the meeting, including all three Athens County commissioners and at least one Hocking County commissioner, and a member of Nelsonville City Council.
At this meeting, audience members were asked to submit questions on index cards. Attendees criticized the parcel fee because it does not apply to everyone — just property owners. Another criticism is that the parcel fee amounts to a property tax that won’t go before voters for approval.
Athens County property owners currently pay a parcel fee to support the Hocking Conservancy District.
The Athens County Commissioners are looking into putting the proposed solid waste district fee or levy on a future ballot, Chmiel said — an idea that generated applause from attendees.
“We don’t necessarily feel good about imposing a fee without a vote of the people,” Chmiel said.
On Monday, Chmiel said the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office had not returned a legal opinion regarding a potential solid waste district levy.
Another question submitted asked if the parcel fee would increase over time. Forrest Redfern said the district plans to seek reducing the parcel fee to $20/year after it pays off the 10-year recycling center bond.
“Once [the commissioners] set it, that’s what it is,” Forrest Redfern said. “They would have to vote again to raise it.”
How can I find out how many improved parcels I own?
At both hearings, Forrest Redfern said people can find how many improved parcels they own by searching the Athens County or Hocking County auditors’ websites. In Athens County:
- Step 1: Go to www.athenscountyauditor.org/Search.
- Step 2: Enter your name, last then first.
- Step 3: The results will show you how many parcels you own and where.
An improved parcel is any parcel with a temporary or permanent structure.
“If you scroll down and click on the parcel, then you scroll down and it will say: ‘Appraised,’ ‘Improved,’ and ‘Total,’ and then it will show you — if it’s all zeros, it’s not improved,” Forrest Redfern said July 2.
Forrest Redfern has offered to personally help people find this information by stopping by her office. The AHSWD office can be reached at 740-753-6885. The Athens County Auditor can be reached at 740-592-3223.
Next meeting(s) info, ratification timeline
The third and final public hearing on the parcel fee is set for today, Thursday, July 11, at 6 p.m. at the Hocking County Fairgrounds, 100 N. Homer Ave., Logan.
The Athens County Commissioners will discuss solid waste on Thursday, July 18 at 1:30 p.m. The Hocking County Commissioners will vote on the parcel fee at their regular meeting on Thursday, July 18 as well.
If all six commissioners move the parcel fee forward, the next step is for the solid waste district to submit its 2025–2040 solid waste management plan — which includes the proposed parcel fee — for approval by the 44 municipalities in Athens and Hocking counties. The plan must be approved by 60% of the municipalities for adoption.
If the plan is not approved, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will write a management plan for the district. Find ratification timelines and more information at ahswd.org/about-us/solid-waste-plan.
Correction: This article previously incorrectly stated the date for the week of July 15 Athens County Board of Commissioners meeting. It has been updated to include the most accurate information; we apologize for this error and any confusion it may have caused.
Update: A time for the Athens County Board of Commissioners meeting on July 18 has been added to this article since initial publication.
Correction: This article previously incorrectly stated that AHRC was, at one time, a “public utility.” A quote with the correct information has replaced the error. We apologize for this factual error.
