School districts throughout Flathead County on Tuesday, April 24, will have a chance to weigh in on a Solid Waste District proposal that will double or triple the garbage disposal fees for most districts.

A public hearing is planned at 3 p.m. at the Solid Waste District office at the county landfill.

The crux of the hearing is an assessment method that has substantially undercharged local school districts for their garbage disposal fees. For decades public and private schools in the county have been charged an annual assessment for their garbage that was determined by adding the number of school staff and students, then dividing that number by 50, then multiplying the divided number by the landfill assessment rate of $80.73 per unit.

Currently the school districts collectively pay $34,805 annually, while the proposed assessment would be around $83,607.

The Solid Waste District intends to charge schools based on their actual waste generation. The assessment would calculate a school’s annual fee by dividing the total yardage of waste produced annually by 20 cubic yards per unit. That calculation will be multiplied by the $80.73 per unit assessment rate.

County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said landfill records don’t indicate when or why the assessment method was set up, but the flawed assessment method recently was discovered.

Letters explaining the proposed rate increase were sent to all school districts in early March.

Prunty said the landfill office has fielded phone calls from three school districts that had questions about the rate increase. In one case, he said, the district thought the increase included hauling fees as well, but it includes only the garbage disposal.

The Fair-Mont-Egan School District board of trustees wrote a letter to the Solid Waste District, pointing out that the district’s fees would more than triple.

“We understand that rate increases are necessary, however, we encourage you to consider a more moderate approach in assessing these increases,” the board stated. “Spreading these rates over several years would allow schools to absorb rising costs in a much more manageable way.”

The Fair-Mont-Egan board also pointed out how recent cuts to school funding made by the state Legislature have created hardships for all public schools.

Fair-Mont-Egan would see its annual garbage collection fee increase from $319 to $968.

Kalispell School District 5’s fees would roughly triple, from $10,854 to about $30,734. While the district has been assessed one annual fee for all Kalispell fees, the proposal itemizes the estimated annual fee by individual schools within a district, based on their current amount of garbage generated.

Flathead High School should be paying $8,312 a year based on the actual garbage generated, according to a Solid Waste District garbage generation chart. Glacier High, which has a garbage compactor, is listed at $80.73, the fee for one unit, though the school would still pay for the tonnage produced.

“Compactors for schools would have a good rate of return,” Prunty said in an earlier Inter Lake interview.

He said the Solid Waste District determined the estimated cost per school is based in part on how many garbage bins the school has and how often they’re picked up.

Moving forward, school districts likely will have to review ways of saving money, such as purchasing a compactor or reducing the number of garbage receptacles, Prunty said.

After the public hearing, the Solid Waste board will make a recommendation to the county commissioners, who will make the final decision on the proposed assessment method.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.