Jackson and Macon county officials are at odds over a recently released report that says Jackson owes its neighbor a settlement of at least $480,641 for terminating a waste disposal agreement.

The 1995 agreement created a joint waste disposal contract between Jackson and Macon counties. Jackson terminated the contract in June 2003.

Since Jackson’s landfill at that time was unlined and Macon’s old landfill was reaching capacity, the two counties agreed to divide the cost of a new landfill that opened in Macon and would handle solid waste from both counties. Jackson was to reciprocate and handle Macon’s waste after 20 years.

“At the start it was a good idea,” said Chris Stahl, the manager of Macon County’s landfill.

Jackson residents began using the Macon landfill in 1998 at a cost of $43 per ton. However, Jackson County commissioners later discovered that they could ship their trash out of state to Homer, Ga., for $21.15 and in 2003 moved to terminate the agreement.

In June 2003, Jackson County Commission Chairman Stacy Buchanan said the county would meet its financial obligations.

“It is the intention of Jackson County to pay (Macon County) every penny we owe, but not a penny more,” Buchanan said.

According to the report issued by HDR Engineering, Inc. — a company mutually hired by Jackson and Macon counties — Jackson does owe Macon money. The report found that Jackson owes $480,641.50 for closure, post-closure and remediation costs, an amount calculated based on the county’s utilization of 17.2 percent of the working landfill cell.

But Jackson County Manager Ken Westmoreland said that figure is incorrect and that the county should only be charged for using about 10 percent of the cell. The county should not bear financial responsibility for the trash that did not come through its transfer stations or recycling centers, he said.

Essentially, the county is being charged for trash that came from individuals or commercial users claiming to be from Jackson County. Those haulers paid tipping fees, said Westmoreland. Charging the county for the trash would be akin to getting paid twice.

“Our position right now is that those numbers need to be reversed, that Macon County owes Jackson County,” he said.

There is a loophole in the agreement, however, as it does not clearly define just exactly who Jackson County is — the county administration or the county’s citizens. So whether the county government should pay for county residents’ use is unknown.

“This agreement was put together rather hurriedly,” Westmoreland said. “That was an obvious oversight in the contract.”

The $480,641 assessment, however, is one of the only points within the HDR Engineering report that does not call for a legal opinion to determine further financial responsibility.

For example, the report cites Macon County’s lost economy of scale as a cost. Jackson County, the report concludes, has caused Macon County to face higher waste disposal costs as it will shoulder the burden of owning and operating the landfill alone.

Although pulling out of the agreement has extended the life of the Macon County landfill, these savings would not outweigh the lost economies of scale, thereby costing Macon County money. “A legal opinion is needed as to whether this argument has merit under the Agreement,” the report states.

Stahl said that while he would have liked to have such issues resolved with the release of the report, he understood why they were not.

“What wound up happening was there were a lot of, I don’t want to say ambiguities, but there were a lot of things that weren’t clear, so HDR, working for both counties, didn’t want to make judgment calls,” Stahl said.

Other responsibilities for which legal input is needed before full economic impacts can be estimated include future siting of a municipal solid waste landfill and a construction and demolition landfill — both of which Jackson county agreed to do under the terms of the original agreemen, said Stahl.

In addition to the legal opinions on the matter, “input is required from Macon County representatives regarding the value placed on benefits of public landfill ownership,” the report states.

At this time, there is no plan for receiving such legal opinions. Jackson County, however, is in the process of replying to the HDR report. The reply should be ready in approximately 30 days, Westmoreland said.

In the meantime, Westmoreland said that the savings generated by terminating the agreement will total between $300,000 to $400,000 a year, even though the lower cost of shipping trash to Georgia isn’t quite as cheap as it seems. While the tipping fee at the Georgia landfill is only $21.15 per ton, the county must pay approximately $10 per ton in shipping costs, bringing waste disposal costs to about $31.15 per ton.

Stahl said that the Macon/Jackson agreement was somewhat similar in nature, as the landfill’s tipping fee was only $25; The remaining $18 were business costs.