$4 MILLION LOAN OK'D FOR LANDFILL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992                   TAG: 9201090599
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
$4 MILLION LOAN OK'D FOR LANDFILL
The management board for the Roanoke Valley's regional landfill will lend $4 million to the Roanoke County Resource Authority to help pay for development of the new landfill.
The money will help pay for land acquisition, grading and other expenses in the next six months for the landfill at Smith Gap in the western part of Roanoke County.
The board approved the loan on Wednesday after a month's delay while Roanoke Finance Director Joel Schlanger reviewed it.
Diane Hyatt, treasurer of the county authority, said the money is needed to help cover expenses until about $30 million in revenue bonds are sold in May or June to finance the landfill and a garbage-transfer station.
The landfill board, which is composed of representatives from Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County, will be dissolved after the current landfill is closed, probably in 1993.
The three localities have agreed to create a new entity, the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority, to own and operate the new landfill. But the new authority can't be created until all of the legal paperwork is completed.
In the meantime, the county resource authority is overseeing planning and development of the new landfill.
Jeff Cromer, landfill manager, said the board has about $7 million in a surplus account, and another $4 million in a reserve account for equipment and for closing the landfill when it is full.
The funds have been accumulated from dumping fees paid by the three localities and private trash haulers since the landfill was opened in the mid-1970s. Part of the money came from the county.
Earlier, the landfill board agreed to contribute $3 million of its surplus and reserve funds to help pay the initial expenses for developing the new landfill. The $4 million loan to the county authority is in addition to the $3 million approved earlier.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB