Hazardous waste funds may run dry for county

There’s good news, Putnam County: The amount of hazardous waste coming into the county is falling year by year.

And now for the bad news: Less hazardous waste means less in a fund the county has used over the years to supplement its budget for public safety and roads.

County health officer Dr. Robert Heavin gave a report to the Putnam County Commissioners on Monday that the flow of money into the county Hazardous Waste Fund has fallen each year since 2014, taking in nearly $1 million less in 2017 than it did in 2014.

“I think something you should be aware of is their tipping fees are down to $300,000 this year,” Heavin said.

He reported that in 2014, Putnam County received $1.3 million from the State of Indiana, the county’s share of tipping fees for trucks that dump at the Heritage Environmental landfill off of State Road 236, east of Russellville in Russell Township.

Heavin explained that the site has chiefly been used as disposal grounds for soil contaminated with PCB, lead or arsenic.

“Does this mean they’re getting sites like that cleaned up?” Commissioner Rick Woodall asked.

“I think the EPA has changed the regulations,” Heavin said, explaining that there are now more things that can be done on-site, without hauling the soil away.

What it certainly means is that the Hazardous Waste fund is dwindling, perhaps not as fast as the dropping income would indicate, but dwindling just the same.

After the 2014 mark of $1.3 million, it fell to $847,000 in 2015, then to $715,817 in 2016.

The steepest drop in percentage came with this year’s mark of $310,000, a number that is just 43 percent of the year before, and a paltry 24 percent of the 2014 amount.

The decline of the fund balance has been more gradual, down from $2,546,133.93 on Jan. 1, 2014 to the current mark of $1,798,172.14.

By law, the fund must have a minimum balance of $1,600,000 for the Emergency Operations Center Bond.

Besides the bond, other major expenditures from the fund have included pay for ambulance services, an amount that will be up to $150,000 in 2018, as well as funding for roads in Russell Township.

This last use, though, was not approved in 2017 due to the falling balance.

There is no obvious solution to the problem for the county, beyond continuing to find other sources to fund the needs previously taken care of by the hazardous waste fund.

One possible option is the Public Safety Local Option Income Tax, approved in 2016. However, much of this money is also spoken for, including paying for the county’s new 911 software, also purchased in 2016.

There was no action to be taken on Heavin’s report.