Blair Trash Fees to Be Distributed

HOLLIDAYSBURG, BLAIR COUNTY - The final settlement of a law suit over  trash hauling will mean a substantial windfall for  some  Blair County companies.  But some  county leaders say the money should go back to  the people who pay their trash bills. This  legal case  has taken about a decade to resolve.  The bottom line is Blair County will have to return about half a million dollars in illegally collected tipping fees. 

  Starting back in the early 1990's , Blair County  started collecting a special tipping fee on trash collected in the county and taken to one of the county's authorized trash transfer stations  or landfills  for disposal.  The County used the revenue   to support  a variety of recycling, composting and solid waste disposal programs.   But the companies forced to collect the tipping fees sued  and won. 

  While the matter was appealed to the higher courts in the State,  Blair  County kept collecting the fees and placed that money in an escrow account. The State Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of the trash companies.   Now a Blair County  Judge has ordered the county to  return   the money to the companies which collected it.   And some Blair Commissioners are calling on the companies involved to pass those funds on to their customers.   But the Attorney  representing one of the transfer stations pointed out that that county was only returning part of the  money that was collected  under the transfer tax that the State declared unconstitutional.  It was his position that the money to be returned is revenue the companies earned. 

  While the Blair Commissioners say they're not about tell companies how to run their businesses, they did make it clear their first interest is protecting county residents. The Blair County escrow account to cover the cost of this court settlement has now grown to more than  five hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  The fund is  expected to cover the entire cost of the court settlement.