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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 23, 1994                   TAG: 9402230291
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

MONTGOMERY TAXPAYERS TO REIMBURSE LANDFILL COUNTY TO SEEK STATE HELP

This means all taxpayers from Blacksburg, Christiansburg and the unincorporated areas of the county will pay for the cost of dumping debris at the landfill.

The Montgomery Board of Supervisors voted 5-1 Monday to spend up to $66,776 to cover the fees.

County officials, because they declared a local emergency on Feb. 14, hope to get that money back from the state or federal governments through disaster aid.

The board also authorized landfill officials to burn the estimated 1,700 tons of tree limbs that will be brought to the landfill by mid-March. The landfill took in 439 tons last week alone.

Montgomery has been grinding up tree debris into mulch. But the volume of tree limbs downed by the Feb. 11 storm makes burning a more cost-effective option, county officials said. Montgomery has a state permit to burn the debris.

Supervisor Joe Gorman said Monday using general tax revenues to reimburse the tipping fees at the landfill was justified because the storm affected people all across the county. "It's a genuine taxpayer problem," he said.

The board last week discussed waiving the tipping fees on storm debris, but learned that is not allowed under rules the county agreed to when it borrowed money to open the landfill.

Instead, landfill officials have been keeping records of debris deposited since the Feb. 11 storm. Those records will be used to make the reimbursements.