RRA hearing will hear about trash

The Dutchess County Legislature will convene a special meeting today, Feb. 11, to hear from the managers and directors of the Resource Recovery Agency (RRA). The RRA has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent times and has had its management policies called into question by the Poughkeepsie Journal as well as other sources.

The state comptroller has nearly completed an internal audit that is not expected to be favorable to the RRA. To exacerbate the situation, Dutchess County is on the hook to subsidize the RRA to the tune of $6.3 million this June with money the county does not have and for which the county did not budget.

The steep county share to the RRA is resultant of two bonds; the first, which will expire in 2014, was taken out in 1984 to construct the Poughkeepsie-based waste-to-electricity trash plant, which came about chiefly as the best alternative to closing the then 15 active county landfills.

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The second bond will expire in 2027 and was borrowed to fund a $14,825,000 Clean Air Act-compliant upgrade that resulted in a 5 percent decrease in sulfur dioxide, but did not generate any additional tonnage or electrical generation benefits, nor produce any additional income to the agency.

At the time the RRA voted to borrow the funds, a Poughkeepsie Journal editorial somewhat prophetically penned, “There’s a good chance that a lot of the debt will, indirectly, wind up the responsibility of taxpayers.â€

It is important to realize that the RRA, a public authority with bond-writing authority, is a separate entity from county government. The county created it, appoints its directors and is required by statute to make up for any financial losses, but it does not have direct oversight.

With the annual county subsidy now at $6.3 million, and amid allegations of mismanagement, some are arguing that the county must take on a larger role. This will be on the minds of legislators when we meet with the RRA leadership on Thursday, Feb. 11. So also will the following concerns of constituents who have written me:

An Amenia resident wrote concerned that if the June payment was not paid that the county’s superior Aa2 bond rating might suffer resulting in higher interest on badly needed capital improvement projects.

A Millbrook resident wrote a series of questions that I intend to ask on Feb. 11:

“Why does it cost so much more for Dutchess County waste disposal than it costs neighboring counties? Why is there no recycling? Why do we separate our trash when I have been told that it all winds up in the same place? Other areas in other states do seem to do more recycling of many different materials. Why are we ignoring this important environmental and economic concern?â€

I welcome other readers to send me their questions. Then comes the hard part as we legislators must forge a policy in a very short time frame that prudently addresses solid waste management in an environmentally friendly and economically viable manner. The above-mentioned Millbrook resident is right-on; we cannot keep ignoring this problem.

 Michael Kelsey is the county legislator for Amenia, Washington, Stanford, Pleasant Valley and the village of Millbrook. Write him at KelseyESQ@yahoo.com.

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