A ruling Friday by a Pulaski County Circuit Judge has set the stage for an $18 annual assessment against each residence and business parcel in Baxter County. The ruling impacts five other counties in North Central Arkansas, with the assessment to begin next year.In addition to Baxter County, Marion, Searcy, Boone, Newton and Carroll counties are included in the ruling and make up the membership of the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District.
Friday’s decision was rendered by Judge Tim Fox. It approves the recommendation of a receiver appointed by his court to find a way to pay the debt incurred to purchase the NABORS waste hauling operation, including the local landfill.
Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass chairs the Solid Waste District board of directors and explains how the assessment process outlined in the ruling will work.
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Retirement of the debt includes payoff of over $12M, plus $18M that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality will expend for closure of the local landfill.
The saga of the NABORS waste hauling operation and the future of the local landfill has had numerous twists and turns. The operation was purchased in 2005 by the Solid Waste Management District. At that time, the district took on the debt to make the purchase.
Judge Pendergrass notes that Friday’s ruling may not be the final twist.
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Pendergrass notes there is another aspect of Judge Fox’s ruling that needs clarification involving 500 acres of land awarded in Friday’s decree to the bond holders.
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Judge Fox’s ruling calling for the tax assessment is not the first time the fee has been proposed. The proposal was a topic when the Solid Waste District sought bankruptcy protection in early 2014. A federal bankruptcy court judge threw the case out later that year.
In his order dismissing the action, the federal bankruptcy court judge said that while the district had the authority to collect both a service fee and a tipping fee, the Solid Waste board chose not to collect the service fee mainly for fear that the decision would be unpopular with voters and might mean the elected county and city officials serving on the district’s board would be put out of office at the next election.
The judge also wrote that because the decision not to collect the service fee to improve the district’s financial health appeared to be based primarily on political concerns, he did not feel that the district filed for bankruptcy “in good faith.”
While the next chapter is being written, Judge Pendergrass says one piece of the saga is moving forward is the disposal of the rolling stock.
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The value of the rolling stock was set at $487,000. Those proceeds will be applied towards the $12M debt.
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