So I'd like to call to order this joint meeting of the Board of Directors of the Waste Reduction District
of Monroe County and the Citizen Advisory Commission of the Waste Reduction District of Monroe County
for July 9th, 2026 at 4.46 p.m. We do have an amended agenda on the website. And the first order of
business is Board of Directors attendance roll call.
So, Mr. Lawson. Piedmont Smith. Thomas. Yes. Wilts. Yes. Jones. Ellis. Here. Thompson. Here. Madera.
Here. You have a quorum, all present in the room. Thank you.
have a battery in there I don't know all right the CAC will do a roll call Matt Austin Brad Lucas here
Joe Sears Jake Youngblood Allison Sears Elizabeth Carter and the CAC as a quorum wonderful
So moving to the heart of today's business is the waste reduction district budget. Twenty twenty seven
budget proposals. I believe first up is a twenty twenty seven operating fund budget proposal. Yeah. So the
In the joint meeting packet, starting on page two, memo kind of summarizing the basis of predominantly
the operating budget, but of all the three budgets and some of the significant changes, increases or
decreases from the current year budget to what's proposed for next year.
So you would note the state budgeting agency did publish a 6% growth quotient. So that is factored into
the property tax revenue.
The excise, the two vehicle and the commercial excise tax, those are estimated as indicated in the memo.
We have our budget workshop with DLGF scheduled for July 17th, and we will get numbers from them to
move forward with. So there may be between now and when it's presented for a vote in August, there may
be some slight changes to that. And just in the essence of time,
We'll jump right in, I guess. So the first slide just kind of gives you an overview from 26 to what's
proposed for 27 for the various revenue categories. You can see at the bottom line we're projecting
a little over a $41,000 increase in revenues, the bulk of that being from the growth quotient property
tax revenue increase.
In the expense categories, the bottom line of just about the same, slightly higher total increase in
expenses of $41,753. Getting into the detail of that and I'm in the essence of time, I'm going to go
through this pretty quick. Please stop me if you have any questions, either board members or CAC members.
So again, for the tax lines, we went over that. The 6 percent growth quotient, the excise taxes are
estimated. The only real big significant change here would be in the orange bag sales, just based on,
you know, trends over recent years and where we are year to date. We're not going to meet that projected
revenue total for 26, so we did drop that down.
a little bit, and then I guess the GBN comes up 7,000, and you can see in the comparison spreadsheet
or the 26 budget status that's included in the packet, that's in line with where we are year to date
this year, and that's based on our current membership.
Again, another one, the host fee dropped about $20,000. That's just based on what we've seen over the
recent years and where we are here to date. And another decrease in interest rates, unfortunately, have
come down from where we've been in recent years. And based on what we're trending to in 26, we had to
drop that some.
question on the operating budget comparison. 2026 shows 7,000. 2027 is 8,000. And it says it's a $2,000
decrease. Not seen. My spreadsheets have been known to have errors. And I'm sorry, where were you on
that again? It is on page 5.
Second, I guess, second, what do you call this? Grid? The second slide? Yes, second grid, yeah. Under
paint disposal. Yeah. Yeah, that's going to be a typo.
Yeah, that's the seven thousand for this year is correct. And eight thousand is what is proposed for
twenty seven. So the difference is a typo. Just didn't want that to make it into the gateway. And again,
we won't be finalized till after our budget workshop. Gotcha. And then
The two sale of OCC recycling, sale of paper recycling, there are significant drops, but they're really,
they're corrections. In 2026, we budgeted that. We had entering into a new agreement with RUMKEY where
they were gonna give us a rebate on that material that we have not received in some time. And I guess, you know,
The market has changed some since, you know, those budget projections were put together. Volumes have
changed some. And so that's just really, you know, a correction for what we're actually seeing,
you know, having about a year of experience now working with Rumpke on that.
A new one on there. We did a line for grant funds for the past two years. We have applied for and received
a waste tire grant from ITEM in the amount of $10,000. I've had tire amnesty events that I believe two
to this point that have been very successful. And I think I apologize. We did the department reports
got tabled. I believe the
The event we did in May, we had some data available for that, and we can certainly present that next
month. But the event we did this May brought in more tires than what we did last fall. And we're looking
at doing another event in late August, early September of this year. I plan to pursue a grant again
next year and continue to do those. As long as the volume of tires is there, we'll pursue that grant
and continue to do those events.
All right. So in the personnel services category, moving on, I guess, over to the expenses, salaries
and wages, we do have a 3.5 percent wage increase in this post in this budget that is based on the CPI
wage earner index that we have historically used for 26 over 25.
And also proposing office manager position currently is budgeted and scheduled for 30 hours a week,
asking to move that up to 35 hours a week. The workload is there to justify that. And it would certainly
help the office to have those extra five hours a week from that position. Health insurance, it actually
came down quite a bit, but it is an estimate.
We can't get renewal quotes on that until late October, early November, because it's a January 1st renewal.
But based on what we've done this year to date, what we project our enrollment for next year to be,
and kind of estimating a 10 percent rate increase, the amount you'll see is what we calculated.
So there are the top two lines. You see the wages with the two increases. You get into the FICA and
the Medicare. Those increases are directly rated to the wage increases. There you see the health insurance.
Still it is a significant drop, $70,000 in that line with what we calculated. One thing you will see,
we did have
one employee in the health savings account plan that has dropped off. So we are some of the turnover
that we have had. We have lost some people that were on the insurance and they have been replaced by
people that aren't taking the insurance because they have other means of coverage.
You know, on this on this page, I think the road based material is the only significant increase. And
that's just we've got some work that needs to be done at our rural sites and on some of the roads at
the landfill. And those are all all gravel. And, you know, we're just cost are going up. So we're trying
to appropriate more money to have the funds available to get the work done that needs to be done.
Nothing significant on this page. The consultant line, $22,000 drop, but that's, if you'll recall, beginning
of this year, the one sustainable Joe that was doing our Back to Earth program, our apartment composting
moved and kind of turned that over to us, so we're managing that in-house now.
Uh, did increase, uh, the grant program by $10,000. Uh, just when we got through the rest of the budget
lines, there was, uh, potential funds available to offer up more money for next year. I would certainly
give us cause to be more proactive and pushing and promoting that program as we got toward the end of
this year. I have, I have a question on this slide if I might. Sure. Okay. Um, the groundwater well survey.
$2,000 increase. Is that just an additional survey or is that the cost has increased? It's an additional
survey. It's a survey that we do every three years, I believe, and that is at items request. We do have
things are moving out there. So the the top of what's called the top of casing elevation of our groundwater
wells are is moving.
And so item is asked that we regularly survey those to reestablish the topic casing to confirm that
we're getting accurate groundwater elevation data. Okay. Thank you.
And so then this one, we are asking for a $5,000 increase in media advertising. We'd like to look to
increase our presence on some additional platforms from what we're currently doing. There's things other
than radio and TV out there that we think we need to be more visible on, so. That does not include social
media, right, because that's the previous line for that.
So yeah, there was a previous line for doing. Yeah, this is more traditional advertising media. Yeah.
Big increase in the liability line, but that is, as most of you, I think, are aware. And Mr. Ellis,
for your benefit, we at the landfill were required to have a pollution prevention policy, and that is
a three year term. And that will be up for renewal next December or December of twenty twenty seven. And
hefty price tag because it's a three-year policy. The water and sewer, I think we all know that the
CBU recently got a rate increase, so we're anticipating higher water bill than we've had in recent years.
Vehicle repair and maintenance went up. That's just kind of based on experience that we've had in recent
years and year to date. Same with machinery and equipment repair and maintenance. Snow removal gets
zeroed out. If you'll recall, we did purchase snow plows and we've brought that in-house with our own
equipment. And the Bethel Lane site lease has an annual 5% increase in that.
So machinery increment rental is going up. This is something we've been having some discussions with
the executive committee. Our equipment is aging well past what the industry standard is for useful life.
And we are talking with potential vendors, considering options to purchase, put it out for bid, renew
with the current vendor.
But at any rate, it is something that one way or another we need to start replacing that equipment and
it's gonna cost us more money. And we get leachate disposal up 10,000. They're just, I think we're almost
at $90,000 already this year.
Right now is generally a dry time that we're not hauling in historically, but that's not where we're
at. That's where the past few years have gone. So we just, we want to make sure we have funds available
to manage that leachate if the volumes continue to stay where they are. HHW disposal going up. Again,
I earlier referred to the most recent HHW bill that was $80,000.
Unfortunately, in addition to the lithium ion batteries and the spray foam canisters, other costs are
just going up like with everything else. We do have a good decrease in the hauling contract, $35,000.
You can look at where we are year to date this year.
You know, we're well under budget projection at this point for the year and we, you know, made some
changes in the way that we, you know, manage the boxes on the sites and how and when that they're hauled
and that's reducing the number of hauls. And we think that that cost will continue to stay down. The
waste tire processing, you know, it goes up, but that's the grant. We put the grant funds in there.
That's where that cost come from, comes from, excuse me. Recycling fees, you know, similar to where
we were on the revenue side with the cardboard and the paper revenue, that's the recycling fees are
all the plastics that we collect and, you know, it was budgeted conservatively going into 26 with the
new contract with Rumpke and the year of experience shows us that we can probably
You know, manage that at a lower dollar amount. For some reason, that's on there twice. I apologize.
So. I'm sorry? The same as stormwater fees or? Stormwater fees is at the, it's the landfill. No, I'm
saying it's on there twice. Oh, it's on there twice? Yeah. I apologize. Just want to make sure they're
not added into the totals twice. Yeah.
We will confirm that and try to have everything on there only once, I guess, before you vote. But I
think the bolded totals at the bottom match my spreadsheet, so I don't think things are double counted
there. I had math, but mileage may vary there. And then for capital outlays,
The $10,000 other improvements is just that's we do this every year that is that is a landfill appropriation
as adjusting case. If something were to happen out there where we had to rebuild a pump box,
purchase a pump, we need the funds available to do that. Yes, ma'am. Have we used that this year? Not
this year, no.
The vehicle purchase zeros out. We don't have any vehicle purchases planned for 2027. And if you'll
recall from the May meeting with our additional appropriation request, we're appropriating funds to
continue to replace the aging inventory of roll-off boxes. And that wraps up the operating fund budget.
I can go through the debt and capital real fast or if you would rather pause and have a discussion on
the operating that is
Board and CAC's call. Comments on the operating? Let's proceed with the 2027 service bond budget. CAC
has questions. Oh, sorry. Any comments or questions on the operating or I can go through the other two
and then we can look at them all and just you guys can discuss. All right, so the debt service bond.
Our final payment is due in February. Yay. But unfortunately, the way that that all works out is that
because the tax disbursements in June and December of 27 are there to cover the February payment,
And I think we've discussed this previously because we're in the same position in 26. The operating
fund is having to make temporary loans to the debt service fund because those payments come due and
have to be made. In fact, we just approved one at the previous meeting. And so for 27, you know, we
won't know the amount that needs to be loaned until we get the December tax disbursement.
But it'll probably be a hefty amount because it's got to cover, the payment is going to be, the revenue
for that payment is going to come in June and again in December. And the way the DLGF explained it last
year, it will be under full tax disbursement. So we will get the December disbursement
We will repay the currently outstanding temporary loan that was issued to cover the payment that was
approved earlier. And then calculate how much we need to loan in January to cover the February payment.
And all this will be discussed with DLGF on our meeting on the 17th. And they had indicated that that
will all be taken into account when they determine the levy.
for the debt service and that when we receive the December disbursement, that that fund should be made
whole and the operating fund should be repaid. But at any rate, you see we have $136,485 is the final payment.
The to be determined there under the proposed budget is that unknown, the amount that the operating
fund will have to loan. And but it's going to be nice to be out from under that and moving forward.
But that's, so that's where we sit on the debt service budget. The cumulative capital fund,
You know, we do we'll have a beginning balance of just over a thousand dollars once the additional
appropriation that was approved comes out of that, which is to replace the roof on the administration
building. As we always do, it's a zero sum budget. DLGF has always advised us to go ahead and adopt
the zero sum budget so that it's on file. So in the event that what we just went through happens,
when we seek that additional appropriation, it eliminates a couple of steps in getting that processed
by having the adopted budget on record. And then I would also note that, you know, the taxing units
do have the option to budget for, you know, contributions on an annual basis to a mutual capital fund.
And given that with the appropriation that we just did,
that the balance of our cumulative capital fund is down around $1,000 that I think the board should
consider whether or not it wants to transfer that money back to the operating fund and be done with
the cumulative capital fund or is it something we want to look at trying to budget to rebuild that for
any potential future projects or events?
that takes care of the budgets. Any comments or questions from directors? Yes. I have what is probably
a pretty dumb question. But the debt service is being paid from disbursements in 27 from these it looks like
several taxes what happens to that tax revenue in 28 and 28 I'm not sure it goes away I believe it's
a separate tax levy from you know our general operating fund tax levy from the county tax levy city
tax it's a completely separate
levy and it you know it doesn't it doesn't get to get absorbed by the district's operating fund or the
county or the city or Ellisville or anybody is my knowledge so it goes away goes away and so for the
excise tax commercial vehicle excise tax and presumably a component of county property tax will be a
reduction and potentially seen by
county residents. For property I believe so. One of the questions I'm glad you mentioned that because
one of the questions I'm going to have for DLGF when we have our meeting that there was a recent change
made regarding the excise taxes and they are not specific to any fund or purpose now that the unit I
guess has more discretion in what those excise tax funds go to and so
I need to clarify with TLGF if, you know, are the excise tax funds for operating and debt separate or
are they split between the two funds because we have the debt service fund and so that's, you know,
that and that's part of the reason that those numbers are estimated in the current budget projections
and we'll get more clarity on that after our workshop on the 17th.
I'm just very appreciative of all the work that Tom does to make this so clear and the fact his breadth
of knowledge that enables him to really
Once again, make this clear, I was surprised at the increase in the grant funds, and I think it would
make sense to get back to the awardees and maybe have a social media post where each one is interviewed
so that marketing, because what my experience has been with a two-year pilot program in a neighborhood
with TerraCycle, I am really excited about the hefty, is that people need education.
that education is very important. People need it over and over again. And back to the grant is that
marketing will hopefully help other potential applicants see that, especially because with Will Detmer
Community Gardens, with Wonder Lab, these entities that are already well known, I feel like that marketing
is very important to get more applicants for next year, because then they can actually see the impact
of the grant.
So, but once again, thank you for all that you do and making this very clear for somebody who is not
fiscally educated on this type of stuff. I'm wondering, just following along that same vein, if there
could be credit to the grant program available
that on site during a program or somehow available for, especially some place that has public visitation
like Wonder Lab, could there be a little sign next to the barrel or, you know? There is a requirement
in the grant program that, you know, materials purchased with the grant funds are to have the district's
name attached to it, so.
But not the idea about the grant specifically, and I think... A little yard signs? Is that what you
mean? Like having a little yard sign out or something? Yeah, sure. Or stickers. Or eight and a half
by 11 or, you know, it could be anything. I just think it's an opportunity. And we can certainly work
with, you know, the awardees from this year and look at their projects and, you know, see what
you know, what would make sense to help promote the grant program, you know, and the district, you know,
being a part of getting this whatever project program they're doing going. The envision like this was
provided by what grant and maybe a QR code so they can scan it and give them more information about
the grant. Yeah, I got you. So just a note on that, that's going to cost extra money, which is not included
in the grant at this point. I will say on the food waste funding agreement that happened last year with
Garden Quest, they did have stickers on every single bucket that said the waste reduction district,
and it did have a QR code, but that was more towards direction. So I think it's a great idea. But just
once again, realize that those funds are not allotted.
Right. Well, I think it would, you know, particularly when you're only talking about, you know, five
grant recipients, it was, you know, it would be a minimal cost that I'm sure that the district could
absorb. The comments, questions?
Seeing that and with those items covered, I don't see any other items on our agenda. Thank you so much.