Title
Discuss the City's Solid Waste Fee for landfill closure and post-closure.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The staff will present the post-closure landfill fee approved in September 2023, at Councilman Roger Neal's request.
The City of Farmers Branch owns the Camelot Landfill. Garbage collected from Farmers Branch and other nearby cities is transported to the landfill for disposal. The disposal facility is a Type I landfill, so the City is required to comply with federal and state financial assurance requirements for the future closure of the facility and 30 years of post-closure maintenance and monitoring. Each year, the City must submit documentation calculating the new cost of closure, post-closure, and corrective action activities, and it must demonstrate it has the financial means to pay for the closure and post-closure activities at the facility. The most recent calculation of the anticipated cost for these activities or "liability" is approximately $40 million, which is adjusted for inflation and other regulatory requirements. The City has a restricted special revenue fund established for these activities, named Landfill Closure/Post Closure (C/PC). The current balance in this fund is approximately $6.1 million built from General Fund transfers.
DISCUSSION:
The City's current FY23-24 budget includes approximately $900,000 in expenditures from the C/PC fund for landfill gas collection system expansion work. The City is paying for landfill gas collection system projects from this fund as they are required for the closure of the landfill. Moreover, the landfill gas collection system must be maintained throughout the post-closure monitoring period. Landfill gas expansion projects will occur on a regular basis throughout the remainder of the active life of the facility. Therefore, the City needs to have a consistent and dependable funding source for the landfill gas projects as well as continue reserving funds for future closure and post-closure activities.
The pr...
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