Trash agency enjoys increase in revenue

The Ulster Country Resource Recovery Agency brought in 3.5 percent more in tipping fees during the first six months of 2017 than in the same period last year, agency officials said Wednesday.

The January-to-June total this year was $6.21 million, a jump of $209,904 from the first six months of 2016.

Tipping fees are the amount of money, based on weight, that trash haulers pay the Resource Recovery Agency to accept solid waste.

The agency said the tonnage total in the first half of 2017 year was 59,962, compared to 57,893 in the corresponding period last year.

“We always get a spike in April,” agency Treasurer Tim DeGraff said Wednesday. But this year, he said, “we saw an even bigger spike in May and then in June.”

This year’s waste totals were up 521 tons in April, 1,738 tons in May and 531 tons in June, the agency said. The May increase alone accounted for a $177,795 jump in revenue.

Tonnage was lower in February and March of this year than in the same two months last year, according to the agency, but the increases after that more than made up for the shortfall.

“We are getting some C and D (construction and demolition debris) coming in,” said agency Operations Manager Charlie Whittaker. “... The [debris] obviously doesn’t have to come to us, and it is . ... So I think you’re seeing some thirdparty volume coming here because we’re always open nine hours a day, six days a week.”

Agency attorney Kenneth Gilligan said another reason for the jump could be stepped-up efforts to have haulers comply with the flow-control law that dictates waste collected in Ulster County must not be disposed of elsewhere.

Agency Executive Director Tim Rose said the larger

tonnage and revenue figures could be an indicator of improvements in the economy, but he cautioned against basing long-term revenue forecasts on the most recent numbers.

“It could be just a matter of somebody taking down a house in the city of Kingston and bringing it here,” he said.