Solid waste district gets OK

Commissioners unanimously approved creation of the new district after hearing briefly from attorneys for and against it.

Carroll County will get its own solid waste management district, after winning approval Friday from the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission.

The Carroll County Solid Waste Authority petitioned the commission to become its own district earlier this year.

Commission Administrative Law Judge Charles Moulton issued a decision recommending that the request be granted.

Carroll County is one of six north Arkansas counties in which an annual $18 service fee has been levied on landowners to pay back the $16 million in work done by the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. The department completed the work — a landfill closure and a tire dump cleanup — after the financially troubled Ozark Mountain Solid Waste Management District could not pay to do it.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox ordered that the fee be levied after receiving a request from the district’s receiver, Geoffrey Treece, an attorney with Quattlebaum, Grooms and Tull. The fee is one way that a solid waste district can collect money under state law.

Commissioners unanimously approved creation of the new district after hearing briefly from attorneys for and against it.

An attorney for the receiver argued that the state law that allows the service fee allows it to be levied only in counties that are receiving services from the entity. That means that if

Carroll County no longer receives services from the Ozark Mountain district, it shouldn’t have to pay.

Moulton told commissioners that a commission decision could not overrule a circuit judge’s order. He said a lawsuit contesting the fee has already been filed.

Sam Ledbetter, an attorney for the solid waste authority, said the authority had resolved to continue requiring the fee so it can pay back the state and bondholders. The district has wanted to separate from the Ozark Mountain district for years, he said, but has delayed doing so until the district’s financial issues were settled.

The state has 18 regional solid waste districts, funded largely by the state. In recent years, as struggles at Ozark Mountain and other solid waste districts have prompted the department to disburse funds and take legal action, the department has ended some fees and grant programs for the districts.