Thursday, January 22, 2009

Here & There Column 1-20-09

Composting & Regionalizing Jails

Government's working together for the betterment of life for its taxpayers could pay off very well it studies presently underway to consider trash composting and counties joining together to study regionalizing jails become a reality.
A trip to Delaware County in December to see that county's composting system revealed that except for construction and demolition debris and furniture all household garbage goes into the composting facility first and that by using this system Delaware County has extended the life of its landfill 25 years.
Delaware County sells the compost for $15 a yard and it can be used for landscaping but not approved for gardening.
The overall construction costs is high but there appears at the present time no concrete solutions for dealing with the increasingly expensive and controversial Sullivan County Landfill.
A study regarding a regional approach to county jail services has surfaced which will find out whether or not it would be cost-effective and feasible to share jail facilities, services and/or personnel.
Sullivan County as we all know is facing a state mandate to build a new jail but if a study shows that it would be feasible to instead build a regional jail system this could very well result in a reduction of the overall cost with the jail project and hopefully would reduce the burden on Sullivan County taxpayers.
Municipalities, county's and the State of New York working together and consolidating services and efforts is the major step in removing the high tax burden we all now face.

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