Garnett City Commissioners are thinking through a large scale Infrastructure Funding Plan and an incinerator project that would burn the city’s trash instead of paying to haul it away. Increasing costs at the Anderson County Landfill sparked the discussion of building their own transfer station or hauling the trash to the Coffey County Landfill, where rates are much cheaper. The city pays $45.00 a ton for waste disposal.
An incinerator could cost as much as $42 million to build, but could be built to generate electricity. City Manager, Travis Wilson says it’s worth developing initial estimates, with the idea that the plant might take in trash and refuse from nearby communities to help defray costs. Commissioner Jason Shehan asked about a possible sales tax increase to help pay for such a big project. Wilson told commissioners he would total some cost estimates for various projects and talk with a bond finance provider to come up with some estimates as to term, bond payments and the amount of increase required for the local sales tax.
