LOGAN, Ohio — The Hocking County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted against a resolution to impose an annual parcel fee to fund the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District.
The decision kills that proposed funding option for the next 15 years, as well as the district’s plans to purchase the Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers’ property and facilities at 5991 Industrial Drive in Athens.
District Director Jane Forrest Redfern said at a parcel fee public hearing that if the district did not implement the parcel fee, it would have to double the disposal fees it changes haulers — and the haulers would likely pass that additional cost on to customers.
“The Hocking County Commissioners have voted 3-0 against the parcel fee this morning, so, therefore, the parcel fee is essentially dead,” solid waste district Director Jane Forrest Redfern told the Athens County Commissioners Thursday afternoon.
The Athens County Commissioners voted to table a resolution on the parcel fee Thursday afternoon.
In May, the solid waste district’s Policy Committee proposed adding a $24 annual fee on improved parcels in its 2025–2040 solid waste management plan.
The fee, which would have been charged annually for 10 years, was intended to sustain and expand the district’s operations, including by buying AHRC’s Industrial Drive location.
“Once the transfer agreement is complete AHRC will not have any employees as they are all transferring to SORT along with the operations and equipment,” AHRC Executive Director Crissa Cummings said in an email July 31. “AHRC will rent the building and equipment to SORT and use the income to pay the mortgage until it is paid off then transfer the building and property to SORT.”
Cumings said in an email that she was “disappointed that the Parcel fee did not pass.” She added that AHRC is “doing okay financially” thanks “to operational changes and strong community support, both from those contracting for services and donations.” She is confident AHRC will be able to work with the council of governments.
“We are close enough to a balanced budget that I feel encouraged that SORT [will be] able to continue to provide compost, recycling services, and decent employment in Athens County for years to come,” Cummings said in an email.
It is also possible that the Athens County Commissioners could step in. The fate of AHRC’s land and facilities will now “be up to the (Athens County) commissioners to decide,” Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins said at Thursday’s commissioners meeting.
County ownership of AHRC’s facilities is “obviously … in our best interest,” Forrest Redfern said. “We’re part of the Council of Governments now, so we’ll see what we can do.” But, she pointed out, “The [raised] tiered fees and generation fees from the landfill, and the hauling fees, are not adequate for us to purchase the recycling center.”
Adkins said he is “fully committed to keeping the Athens-Hocking Recycling Center” because “it’s the only way that I see the county meeting its obligation to reduce trash in the landfill.” 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.
Now that the parcel fee failed, the landfill rate increases are “going to affect different haulers in different ways,” Forrest Redfern said.
Solid waste districts collect disposal fees “on each ton of solid waste that is disposed at landfills” within their district, Forrest Redfern explained. Disposal fees are tiered based on the waste’s origin, with higher fees charged for waste from outside the district.
With no parcel fee, two of the district’s waste fees and its generation fee will increase. Currently, the district charges $1/ton for in-district and out-of-state waste and $2/ton for out-of-district and out-of-state waste.
The district’s draft plan would increase the fees for in-district waste; by state law, the out-of-state fee must be equal to the in-district fee, which is capped at $2/ton. The out-of-district waste fee will stay the same at $2/ton, making all the fees the same regardless of origin.
The district also will increase generation fees, from $3/ton to $5/ton. Generation fees are collected on waste generated from within the district and have no minimum or maximum amounts.
Those fees are all paid by Rumpke Waste & Recycling, which owns the Nelsonville landfill. Rumpke pays for the fees by charging haulers for using the landfill.
Nick Rupert, a municipal sales representative for the Rumpke, told the commissioners that when the solid waste district establishes its new fees, Rumpke will reevaluate its own fee schedule for customers.
The district’s management planning process continues, Forrest Redfern said in an email Friday — including two additional public meetings on an updated plan without the parcel fee.
“The policy committee will have to re-prioritize the goals and go through the plan as well,” Forrest Redfern told the commissioners Thursday. “And there may be some cuts involved, but that will be decided by the policy committee.”
Once the policy committee approves the final plan, it will go out to 44 jurisdictions in the district’s service area for ratification. The Athens and Hocking county commissioners and at least 26 of the 44 jurisdictions — 60% — must approve the plan before it can be sent to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Find more information on the Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District’s 15-year solid waste management plan at ahswd.org/about-us/solid-waste-plan.
Update/Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that SORT would not absorb AHRC; it will. A quote has been added to clarify and fix this error. We apologize for this factual error.
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