SWANN, the Solid Waste Agency of Northwest Nebraska, will go at least one more year without raising rates.
Board chairman and Dawes County Commissioner Jake Stewart says the budget passed last month balances without needing to increase rates.
The $1.8-million dollars SWANN budget projects $1.7-million in revenue from the monthly rates charged all customers – landfill services only for rural residents, landfill and collection for in-town residents.
In addition to revenue from rates is an estimated $125,000 in additional income which includes pasture rent, gate fees, rental of roll-off boxes, and fees construction debris and slaughterhouse waste.
The only fee going up is for slaughterhouse waste, which has been growing in recent years with fewer rendering plants in the region and expanding operations at the Open Range Beef plant in Gordon and Jansen Custom Cutting in Rushville.
Stewart says the jump in the fee from $25 to $50 per, the same as for other “special waste” reflects that fact that it costs SWANN a lot more to dispose of slaughterhouse waste than normal trash or construction debris.
Stewart says the packers have no objection to the higher fee because they plan to pass it along to their customers.