Defunct Landfill Debt, Cleanup, Closure Costs to be Shouldered by Residents

Twelve years ago, Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District, which includes Baxter, Marion, Searcy, Boone, Newton and Carroll Counties secured revenue bonds to purchase an old landfill and garbage hauling service in rural Baxter County. The waste district’s goal was to improve the facility to centralize waste management operations and make money on outside trash contracts.But cleaning up the dump proved too costly and the venture failed. Last April a circuit court decided that district property owners, starting in 2018, will be responsible for paying off the debt as well as landfill cleanup and closure, estimated to cost more than $25 million dollars. The property tax assessment is expected to be imposed over the next three decades.