December 1, 2022 |
In Rawlins, as the city fights with one of its licensed trash haulers over landfill fees and other issues, officials are in the midst of reviewing the fees charged at the municipal transfer station.
Finance Director and Interim City Manager Tom Sarvey is putting the finishing touches on an overdue landfill rate study. Mira Miller, the Rawlins public information officer, said Sarvey’s presentation should be ready soon. Miller said the study was in the works long before the city’s battle with Dirty Boyz Sanitation began.
Pictured above: The transfer station building at the Rawlins landfill. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
The fee study has been in the works since February. Covid delayed the city’s past two audits until this June. Miller said the city wasn’t able to begin the study until those audits were completed.
In 2009, a Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, study showed that unlined landfills were causing groundwater contamination. To help smaller towns that couldn’t afford to upgrade their waste disposal facilities, the DEQ allowed them to transfer their municipal solid waste to larger landfills with the proper environmental protections.
Per DEQ regulations, the Rawlins landfill had to stop accepting municipal solid waste, or MSW, and transfer it to Casper, where it could be safely buried. During a February workshop, the city showed they were spending $83 a ton to haul their garbage to Casper. Thirty-two dollars of that total paid for the garbage to be moved to Casper. The other $53 went to the City of Casper itself.
The cost of the tipping fee at the Rawlins solid waste transfer station has become an issue. It’s one of the highest in the state of Wyoming. Mayor Terry Weickum has said the fee be lowered as long as the city can pay the cost of paying off the cost of closing the landfill, as well as the operational costs of the transfer station and construction waste pit.
