District OKs used tire fee increase

FAYETTEVILLE —The price for disposing used tires will increase in July after the Boston Mountain Solid Waste District’s board approved an increase to cover the district’s costs.

District Director Robyn Reed told the board Thursday the district needed to increase the fee. The average disposal cost increased from $2.91 per tire in 2019 to $3.44 in the first quarter of this year, Reed said, and the current fee doesn’t cover the increase. District residents can dispose of four tires per month at no cost. Individuals and businesses bringing in more than four tires are charged the disposal fees.

The board approved an increase in the cost of passenger tires from $2.25 per tire off the rim to $3.50. The fee for passenger tires on the rim will increase from $3.50 to $5 each.

The board also approved an increase in the fees for “oversized” tires, used on tractors, graders and other heavy equipment, from $10 per tire off the rim to $15. Fees for oversized tires on the rims will increase from $15 per tire to $25 per tire. The increases will be effective July 1.

The steps taken to limit the spread of covid-19 have impacted the district, but Reed said Thursday she’s confident the changes will have no long-lasting financial effect.

“We are running really tight this year, as everyone is,” Reed said. “We did take a hit in March and April, but I’m confident we’ll be able to end the year in the positive.”

Many businesses, schools and governments closed to some extent in mid-March as part of the effort to limit the spread of the virus. Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said his city and most governments are still waiting for solid information on how the closings will affect them.

“Many of us on this board are dealing with city and county budgets, and we’ve got some lagging indicators,” Sprouse said. “For instance, we’re still waiting on our first sales tax report that will really tell us where we are.”

Sales taxes in Arkansas are collected locally and sent to the state Department of Finance and Administration at the end of each month. The state then distributes the receipts to the taxing entities, which takes another month, so local governments will

get March sales tax receipts at the end of May.

Reed said the partial shut down, along with the increase in the number of people working from their homes, has changed how people use the services offered by the Solid Waste District.

“It’s been more of a shift,” Reed said. “Some services, like school recycling and rural recycling, are shut down. Those programs kind of self-regulated. But we’ve seen a significant increase in traffic coming to our transfer station. As a whole, we’ve stayed busy, it’s just a shift on what we’re handling and how we’re handling it.”

Tom Sissom can be reached by email at tsissom@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWATom.