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Report indicates Jackson owes Macon County $480,641
By Lynn Hotaling
A report by a Charlotte engineering firm indicates that Jackson County owes Macon County $480,641 for last year’s decision to terminate a solid waste agreement between the two governments.
HDR of Charlotte, the engineering firm agreed on by both counties to evaluate the contract’s worth, completed the report.
The $480,641 is “the same number that’s in their preliminary report,” Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland said Tuesday.
Westmoreland indicated that Jackson County officials do not agree with the HDR assessment but are waiting to hear back from Altamont, the engineering firm used by local officials as consultants for landfill issues, before drafting a response.
“There are a number of issues we’ll raise at the proper time,” Westmoreland said. “A number of factors are under-considered or not considered (by the report).”
A baler facility at the Macon landfill is no longer in use, Westmoreland said, indicating that Jackson County would be entitled to half the proceeds if it were sold.
Westmoreland also said there is a dispute as to the actual volume of trash Jackson County sent to the joint landfill.
Jackson County commissioners decided in June 2003 to terminate the 1995 joint agreement between the two boards after learning they could send trash to Homer, Ga., for $21.15 per ton, less than half the $43/ton tipping fee in Macon County.
Facing a state mandate to close its unlined Dillsboro landfill, Jackson County officials nine years ago paid Macon County $1.38 million for the right to use its new lined landfill. The agreement called for Jackson and Macon to split the cost of operations and required Jackson County to site a landfill for use by both when the Franklin facility closed in an estimated 20 years.
“I’m for terminating the contract. Even if we end up owing them money, it will be substantially less than siting a landfill in Jackson County,” Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan said a year ago.
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