A leading environmental law firm has requested information from the Ulster County Legislature and the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency pertaining to the county?s recently adopted flow-control law ? actions viewed by an agency attorney as signs of a possible lawsuit.
John Paul, an attorney with Madison Avenue law firm of Beveridge & Diamond, has asked the Legislature to turn over ?all records relating to or relied upon by the county Legislature in conducting its review and making its determinations under the New York state Environmental Qualify Review Act, Article 8 of the New York Environmental Conservation Law? and ?all records relating to or relied upon in the development of proposed local law No. 12 of 2012, and all records forming the basis for the county Legislatures? adoption? of the resolution enacting the local law establishing flow control.
Paul also has asked the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency to provide all records relied upon by the agency in designating solid waste management facilities, records related to how the tip fee schedule was devised and the existing contracts between the agency and municipalities in Ulster County.
Paul did not return a reporter?s call on Wednesday.
Trash agency Attorney Kenneth Gilligan told members of the Legislature?s Environmental, Energy and Technology Committee earlier this month that he sees the requests as precursors to a potential lawsuit against the county.
?They?re trying to get their ducks in a row to determine if they can bring a lawsuit,? Gilligan said.
In an effort to close the agency?s chronic operating deficit and the multimillion-dollar annual taxpayer subsidy of the agency?s operation, the Ulster County Legislature in December adopted a controversial flow-control law that requires all haulers collecting trash within the county?s borders to bring that trash to the Resource Recovery Agency for disposal.
Because Ulster County Executive Michael Hein declined to include the anticipated $2.47 million subsidy of the trash agency in his 2013 budget, legislators were faced with either adopting the flow-control law or finding another way to close the nearly $2.5 million budget gap.
By giving control of all the trash collected in the county to the agency, the agency is able to establish tipping fees ? the per-ton amount charged to haulers for disposing of trash ? at rates necessary to meet its financial obligations, regardless of market influence, thereby balancing its budget and eliminating the taxpayer subsidy.
But the move was controversial among some lawmakers, as well as trash haulers and residents who said that garbage companies would be forced to raise their rates in order to pay for the higher tip fees. Continued...
Under the fee schedule adopted by the Resource Recovery Agency, private haulers would pay a tip fee of $100 per ton, an amount that, for some of the largest haulers in the county, is more than double the current fee. Towns will continue to pay $90 per ton for disposal, and the city of Kingston will continue to pay $80 a ton.
Trash agency Director Tim Rose said he expects the new tipping fees to go into effect in February.
Source: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2013/01/17/news/doc50f767af57d54285203414.txt
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