The Cumberland County Board of Supervisors at its Dec. 10 monthly meeting adopted a resolution designating anticipated revenue to the county from the proposed Green Ridge Recycling and Disposal Facility.

The board voted to approve the Green Ridge project on June 28, 2018.

As a part of the Community Host Agreement between the county and Green Ridge, Green Ridge will pay Cumberland County between $1.3-$2.7 million each year through a host fee to operate the facility. According to the Green Ridge website, these fees will increase over time when adjusted for inflation. The new resolution serves to allocate funds collected from these annual fees.

The full resolution is as follows:

WHEREAS, the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors approved the Green Ridge Recycling and Disposal Facility Project on June 28, 2018; and,

WHEREAS, The Cumberland County Board of Supervisors anticipates annual revenue from Host Community Agreement fees; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors directs the Host Community Agreement Fees used as follows:

10% – 15% Debt reduction

10% – 15% Capital Improvement Plan Reserve Fund

10% – 15% Economic Development

10% – 25% One-time, non-recurring expenditures, other reserve funds

10% – 35% Real Estate Tax Reduction

10% – 15% General Fund

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution supersedes any previous resolution, policy, or directive adopted prior to this date.

Adopted this 10th day of December 2019.

During discussion of the resolution, District One Supervisor Bill Osl clarified the board’s reasoning behind allocating the future funds. He explained that as revenues flow into the county there is a tendency for them to get lost in the general fund and that these revenues often get used for operational purposes, meaning a designation of the funds may help to prevent this.

“Debt reduction, for example, it’s good to get rid of some of our debt if we have the cash flow to be able to do so. By doing so, we will free up funds for operational purposes as well as for additional tax decreases through the community. Our capital improvement plan reserve fund had been depleted. It was depleted during the recession … Economic development, we reduced a staff member when the recession hit and we cut out any activities that basically we spent money on for economic development,” said Osl.

“And then, I don’t mind a portion of it, %10-%15 this is suggesting, that would go for general funds to be used for general fund expenditure purposes, but that becomes a relatively small piece of the pie, and that’s the way I think it should be. That’s just my personal opinion, so that’s the reason why we put this together,” he continued.

An entirely new set of board members is set to take their seats on the Cumberland board in January.

“The new board may find this helpful, may not,” Osl added. “You can use it as you so desire and make changes as you think appropriate, but we thought at least we’d give some guidelines.”