By VICKI URBANIK

Employees of the Recycling & Waste Reduction District of Porter County will get 3 percent pay raises under the 2009 budget approved by the district board Tuesday.

The district’s total budget is set at $900,146 for 2009, up from this year’s $870,687. However, the district typically ends the year about $30,000 under budget, said executive director Therese Davis.

Davis on Tuesday presented a proposed budget to the district board, which is made up of the three county commissioners and representatives from the Porter County Council and cities of Valparaiso and Portage. The district is funded primarily by a $13 fee added onto residential property tax bills.

District board member and South County Commissioner Carole Knoblock proposed that the district’s seven staff members receive the same pay increase as what will be awarded to county employees. This year, county employees were awarded raises of $750; next year’s county budgets will be reviewed during hearings that begin in August.

After some discussion, the district board agreed to stick with the salary budget as presented after Davis pointed out that the recycling district staff doesn’t get longevity pay, while county employees do. She suggested that if the county government pay hike is enacted for the district -- which is a separate governmental agency -- then the district should get the same perks.

The recycling district’s budget anticipates the same level of programming in 2009, except for one fewer Household Hazardous Waste collection day, bringing the total to four collections next year. Because of increasing costs, the 2009 budget for this program will be the same as this year, $115,000.

District board member and Portage City council member Sue Lynch said that when the hazardous waste collection program first began, she and others wanted only a temporary program. The initial idea, she said, was that the public would become educated about the dangers of using hazardous products and that they would eventually reduce their use.

But, Lynch said: “We are not generating any less.” District board member and Portage Mayor Olga Velazquez said there have been strides made, but that now there is a new generation of people to educate.

Davis added that the household hazardous waste collection program takes in a variety of items, such as fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury.

District Board President and North County Commissioner John Evans pointed out that Congress is now mandating increased use of compact fluorescent bulbs. In addition to the concern about the presence of mercury, he took issue with Congress mandating a product not currently produced in the United States. According to Evans, all compact fluorescent bulbs are made in China.

In a similar vein, Velazquez said she sees a need for increased public education about how to handle the clean-up in the event a compact fluorescent bulb shatters in one’s home.

Another budget item discussed dealt with the lack of a north county compost site.

The district used to operate a compost site in Crocker on property owned by Chesterton, but that site is now restricted to the town’s street department. The district has been looking for a new north county site.

Davis said the 2009 budget does not include funds for a new compost site. In the event a suitable site is found soon, she said the district would have to make do with its current budget, but that ultimately, it may have to consider increasing its fee. “We have some very detailed homework to do,” she said.

District board member and County Commissioner President Robert Harper objected to a possible fee increase and said if a new north-county composting site is established, the district should attempt to operate it within current budget parameters.

In other matters Tuesday:

•The recycling district appointed two new members to its Citizen Advisory Committee. Carole Broderick will serve as Harper’s appointee to the committee, while Sharon McGill will serve as the appointee of district board and Porter County Council member Karen Conover.

•Household Hazardous Waste Coordinator Tom Buford gave a report on the recent HHW collection held at Westchester Intermediate School. A large turnout of about 350 attended. In addition, the district’s thermometer exchange resulted in handing out 109 mercury-free thermometers. Also, the district filled two and a half 50-gallon drums with old medications.

Buford noted that all the materials collected meant that much that didn’t get set to landfills.

“It was a very good collection,” he said.

Posted 7/17/2008