County sees big drop in solid waste funding

County commissioners this week signed the annual solid waste agreement that provides state money to help offset the costs of handling local solid waste. This was a bad year for the fund which fell from 277 thousand dollars last year to just 78,700 dollars this year. The money is provided annually to counties with fewer than 100 thousand residents – landfill director Van Johnson said the cuts affected all small counties in Florida. Franklin County has used the money in the past primarily for capital outlay projects like buying new trucks and machinery so the major effect the cuts will have during the next budget year is that there will be no new vehicles for the landfill. It should not have a major impact on day to day operations. Van Johnson said if Florida’s economy remains weak for a number of years, however, it could have a big impact on the local budget.