Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071779
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Mayor Harold Linkous said the tipping fee, proposed by the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, should be discussed at length before a decision is made.
Christiansburg plans to use the county landfill when it closes its own nearly full facility in May, according to Town Manager John Lemley.
The county fee proposal, which is included in its 1990-91 budget proposal, was introduced because of "the extreme costs of [state] mandated environmental protection required this year," board Chairwoman Ann Hess said last month in a letter to Linkous.
Hess said the board "was forced to evaluate sources of additional revenue." She said it is hoped that the dumping fee would encourage waste reduction and ease the financial burden of waste disposal.
Councilman Truman K. Daniel said Hess "must've pulled that [$25] number out of the air. It just doesn't justify anything." Other council members called it a form of double taxation.
Members agreed that a reasonable fee might be expected, but that $25 was too high. Lemley said Christiansburg has been using its own landfill for years and uses county landfill space to dump only construction debris and appliances.
With a tipping fee, Lemley said the town's 35 tons of trash a day would cost roughly $250,000 a year. That could mean a garbage pickup rate of almost $5 a month for residents, instead of the current $2.50.
Linkous has asked the supervisors' chairwoman for a meeting to discuss the proposal.
A public hearing on the county budget is scheduled for March 19 at Blacksburg High School.
In other business, council discussed a letter from the New River Preservation League, which wants three buildings at East Main and Pepper streets to be saved from the wrecker's ball.
"We believe that the loss of these structures [the old T&C warehouse and Mensh and Tollison buildings] would degrade the character of the downtown district," wrote Landmarks Committee Chairmen Charlotte Worsham and Linda Coyle.
The town purchased the 3/4-acre site in January for $320,000. It plans eventually to raze the buildings and use the site for municipal parking and office expansion.
Linkous said that he's heard repeated complaints about parking and believes the plan is the cheapest way for the town to remedy the problem.
by CNB