After a Sparta decision last week to stop collecting solid waste fees, White County officials proposing removal of collection fees countywide.
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said the fees have been used to cover the operating costs for all of the county’s convenience centers. But the county receiving payments from Waste Management. Robinson said the county was planning to begin looking at removing the fees county-wide in January. The Sparta decision will speed up the county’s process.
“This creates an unfair taxation level in the county, and we have to address that,” Robinson said. “We can’t be taxing one part of the county more than we are the other.”
Robinson said the county will have to eat the cost for the convenience centers should the county commission remove the fees in December. Robinson said the county would be losing an estimated $750,000-$800,000 a year.
“That’s something that will have to be addressed by the budget committee if the removal of solid waste [fees] passes through the solid waste committee,” Robinson said. “It would go from there to budget and that would be the budget committee’s job to figure out how to absorb that loss and how to replace that funding and that revenue.”
Robinson said he expects the county to cover the costs for several months.
“Waste Management at the landfill seems to be moving a little bit ahead of schedule,” Robinson said. “So I am hoping by maybe mid-2026 that the post fees will be coming in.”
Sparta had been collecting fees for the county on behalf of both residential and commercial clients. But Aldermen voted this week to stop, since the city does not have service. Aldermen said residents were not getting anything for the money.
