BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — Trash just got a little pricier for Martin County residents and businesses as garbage haulers face higher fuel prices for handling solid waste materials. The Martin County Fiscal Court voted Thursday to raise monthly trash bills by 10 percent.

Commercial trash hauler Kenny Howell of Howell’s Recycling asked the court to add a 20 percent fuel surcharge to bills until the fuel price drops below $3 per gallon.

“It was $1.30 when I took the garbage over,” Howell said of fuel prices. “It’s $6 now, and I’m losing money. If you guys want me to continue to pick it up, I need some help.”

District 2 Magistrate Roger Preece motioned to raise garbage bills by 20 percent.

“Can’t you do it cheaper?” District 4 Magistrate Junior Hunt asked.

Howell told Hunt that he was losing $10,000 a month.

“That’s only $6,000,” he said.

District 5 Magistrate Mark Blackburn said he understood Howell’s issue.

“But it’s hard for us to do that,” Blackburn said. “Just as you’re suffering, the individual citizens are also suffering; everybody is suffering. All the costs have gone up on them as well, so as a board, we can’t in good conscience raise that cost on them. I mean, I can’t – I won’t – do it.”

Howell replied, “Well, do you guys want the garbage back?”

“It’s my understanding that you signed a contract,” said Blackburn.

“Yeah, and I’ve got 30 days to give it back,” said Howell.

Martin County Judge/Executive Colby Kirk said the county could not get back into the garbage business.

“From my standpoint, it’s not a popular decision, but we’re not put up here to make popular decisions,” Kirk said. “I’d hate to see any Martin County business go out, whether that’s our haulers or small businesses. At the same time, I don’t know if we could justify a jump to 20 percent.”

Howell negotiated, asking for 15 percent.

“That’s up to the magistrates,” said Kirk.

Preece motioned to increase the bills by 15 percent and remove the increase when the national average gas price falls below $3 per gallon.

Hunt said he would agree to a 10 percent increase.

“People can’t afford it,” Hunt said. “The poor people can’t afford it.”

District 1 Magistrate Jarred Goforth motioned to raise the fee by 10 percent until the state average gas price falls below $3 a gallon. District 3 Magistrate Derrick Stepp seconded the motion.

The vote was 4-1 to increase monthly garbage fees by 10 percent for residential and commercial customers. Blackburn voted against the increase.

The court accepted bids for garbage hauling services in District 4 divisions 1 and 2 from James McCoy, Country Boys Pickup LLC, and Vanover Sanitation LLC and awarded the contracts to Vanover.

“I talked to 80 or 90 percent of the people in District 4,” said Hunt. “They said they want Bill Vanover. … I want to help James [McCoy] – I really do. But like I said, I went and talked to the people in District 4, and 80 to 85 percent of the people said they want Bill Vanover, said he did a great job and helped them when they were in need.”

Magistrates agreed that the county would continue to cover the cost of hauling in District 4 until June 30 to give the new hauler time to set up new customers.

The county will also cover the cost of prepaid customers who can provide proof of payment to the former hauler Joey Robinson.

Districts 1 and 2 trash fees increase from $14 to $15.40.

District 3 increases from $15 to $16.50.

District 4 increases from $14.95 to $16.45.

District 5 increases from $15 to $16.50.

Commercial Class A will increase from $65 to $71.50.

Commercial Class B increases from $150 to $165 for 3 cubic yards, $175 to $192.50 for 4 cubic yards, $200 to $220 for 6 cubic yards, and $225 to $247.50 for 8 cubic yards.

Resident wants action on natural gas service

Pilgrim resident Billy Maynard asked the fiscal court to take action to make natural gas service available to residents.

“We’ve got gas wells all around this county, all around my house,” Maynard said. “They will not let us hook up on them. Our electric bills are running $400, $500, $600 a month. A gas bill off a well would run from $100 to $150. Can’t you guys do something to force these New Yorkers, Californians or whoever – even across the water – to sell to us locally if we want gas in our houses?”

Maynard said the issue is countywide.

“They pipe it out, and we die of cancer and get the sludge water out of the creek that’s running red where they’re drilling and blasting around us,” said Maynard. “Can’t you guys come together … and force them to pipe gas down where we can hook up on it? It would save hundreds of Martin County people probably $300 or $400 a month that they could be buying groceries and gas with.”

Kirk told Maynard the court would investigate.

“I don’t know if we could force the hand of a private company, but if we know there are enough residents that want to hook on to service, we can make them aware of it,” Kirk said.

“It’s a shame the gas is being pumped out of here and sold to other people a lot cheaper and that we can’t even purchase it,” said Maynard, adding that there are five gas wells around his home, and he could not get a gas line or hookup.

“I’ll reach out to some gas providers,” said Kirk.

Maynard told the judge that he would revisit to check on the county’s progress.

Other action

In other business, the court:

• Accepted the Martin County Public Library District’s fiscal year 2023 budget.

“Do they have any money?” Preece asked.

“They have some, as you can see,” replied Kirk. “Of course, they’ve almost got it all earmarked to be spent, too.”

“$735,900 is what they say they’ve got,” said Preece.

• Accepted the Martin County Health District fiscal year 2023 budget.

• Approved a grant application for a $50,000 state advancement for Martin County Sheriff John Kirk.

• Approved a budget amendment for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office to reflect the difference and the state advancement that the sheriff will have to repay.

• Amended the floodplain ordinance to meet state and federal requirements.

• Approved a resolution to apply for a Kentucky Office of Homeland Security grant to update radios for 911.

• Tabled a proposal from Clifford Smith of New Hampshire to operate the Caney Shaft campground until next month to allow Judge Kirk to discuss the proposal with Smith.

• Conducted the second reading and approved the fiscal year 2023 budget.

• Approved hourly raises submitted by the Martin County Fiscal Court Code Committee.

• Approved the fiscal year 2023 standing orders to pay recurring expenses.

• Kirk announced that he had received resignation notices from 911 director Jordan Wheeler and judge’s office assistant Jennifer Horn. Advertisements for both positions are in this edition of the Mountain Citizen.