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Transfer station projects positive 2015 numbers
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MONROE - The Green County Transfer Station has something to look forward to as estimates place the landfill about $6,000 in the black as final December numbers are tallied.

The Green County Solid Waste Board met Thursday to review its 2015 budget. Those numbers total more in expenditures than in revenue by $10,300 but are only pieces of the overall budget. Landfill fiscal clerk Amy Bartlett said currently the budget reflects a positive operations total of $10,700. She added that has been the case in the last two years.

Landfill manager Randy Thompson estimated the transfer station will remain in the black even after remaining bills from December are received and paid.

The transfer station's financial health has been a topic of debate during the course of negotiations with the city of Monroe over the past few years.

This fall, the transfer station board announced it would no longer accept any trash from the city or its residents beginning Dec. 1. The news came after a hard-fought tug-of-war between the city and the transfer station regarding membership. Originally, the city held a contract with the facility, but ended the agreement last January after three years of discussion. The city continued to haul its trash to the facility as a non-member. Contract negotiations continued through the summer, when the Monroe Common Council officially ended its negotiations. Both parties cited an inflexibility by the other side as the reason no final decision could be reached.

Under the change, any member municipality can still use the facility. This includes private residents. Monroe residents are not eligible to do so, though some commercial businesses, through their own contracts, still use the county station.

Monroe is currently testing a plan to transport garbage directly from the city to Janesville through the use of their own trucks.

Bartlett said she has heard from a number of Monroe residents who are unhappy with the change. Although removing Monroe as a user decreases the amount of money coming in, she said the station has had a good year.

The impact of not having Monroe at the station is still

an unknown for the transfer station because winter is its slow time. She said there has not been enough time to

gauge what effect the absence may have on the facility's revenue.

Bartlett added that the transfer station would not know total revenue and expenses until all charges are tallied for the full year. She said for the time being, the transfer station intends to continue as a members-only facility.