ALBANY COUNTY — Local municipalities have to adjust their budgets, and perhaps even their operations, to accommodate substantially increased tipping fees at the Rapp Road landfill in Albany.

The landfill, which has long been the main destination for local municipal waste, raised its fees by 40 percent this year, jumping from $72.80 per ton to $102. 

“We’ve been doing about 750 tons a year,” Rensselaerville Highway Superintendent Jason Rauf told the town board at its Feb. 13 meeting. “That’s a $22,500 increase.” 

Mattresses — of which the town receives seven or eight a month, he said — require a separate fee, which has also increased for an added expense to the town of roughly $2,400. 

Rauf said that the company that handles the town’s recyclable material, Sierra Processing, has also increased its fees as it negotiates a new contract with the city of Albany, which adds another $10,000 to the town’s refuse expenses. 

That makes for a total increase of $34,900. 

Rauf said he doesn’t think Rensselaerville can reduce the amount of waste it takes in, and there’s no other obvious option for the town to avoid the added expense.

Westerlo Supervisor Matthew Kryzak reported the same dilemma, telling The Enterprise that the town had “no different options at the moment.” 

“It will definitely affect what we budgeted for tipping fees,” he said.

Knox Supervisor Russ Pokorny said that officials in that town “don’t know of any options. We may have to budget for it next year.”

Rensselaerville Councilman Brian Wood asked Rauf about long-distance options, noting that his brother-in-law, who hauls trash, transports it from Greene County to Rochester. 

Rauf said he would have to spend more time looking into it, but acknowledged that the town would likely start charging for mattresses, one of the minor ways it can help offset costs. 

“It’s a small nut, but it all adds together,” he said.

Berne Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger told The Enterprise that the town would continue to enforce its residents-only policy at the transfer station to keep costs as low as possible. 

“One thing that can be done is make sure only Berne residents use the Berne transfer station,” he said. “In the past we have had other townspeople come over and we have sent them away.”

The city of Albany’s deputy commissioner of general services, Joseph Giebelhaus, the contact the city has provided regarding tipping fees, could not immediately be reached for more information on the fee increase. 

The Enterprise reported in 2023 that the Rapp Road landfill is expected to close in May of 2028, when it is predicted to reach its maximum capacity; however, officials have expressed hope that by improving its collection process it can extend the life of the landfill a little further.