Trash agency board approves 2020 budget

For the first time in six years, the spending plan increases the rate haulers pay to dispose of waste.

The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency board on Monday unanimously approved a $15.7 million agency budget for 2020.

The budget is about $831,000 larger than the agency’s 2019 spending plan and will, for the first time in six years, increase the fee that haulers pay to dispose of waste at the agency’s facilities.

The so-called “tipping fee” will rise to $105 per ton in 2020 from the 2019 level of $103.

The higher fee is the result of new contracts with the two companies — MBA and GottaDo Contracting — used by the agency to haul waste away from the disposal sites.

The agency’s 2020 budget includes a 39.4 percent increase in hauling costs and a 7.1 percent increase in the amount the agency pays to dispose of its collected waste at a landfill near Syracuse.

Other spending in the budget includes:

• $1.73 million for wages, down 0.2 percent from the 2019 level.

• $730,107 for fuel replenishment costs, up 3.9 percent.

• $689,257 for employee health insurance, down 7.9 percent.

• $253,683 for property and liability insurance, down 20.6 percent.

• $240,000 for pension benefits, up 2.1 percent.

• $224,750 to monitor closed municipal landfills, up 27.2 percent.

• $203,000 for vehicle maintenance, down 1.9 percent.

• $171,000 for general administration, up 14.8 percent.

The budget also assumes $147,000 in grant revenue, up from $96,000 in 2019.