A new proposal regarding Carter County Landfill operations could result in significant cost savings for the county if the measure is approved by the Carter County Commission next week.

During Wednesday morning’s Financial Management Committee meeting, Landfill Committee Chairwoman Commissioner Bobbie Gouge-Dietz gave the group an update on landfill operations, including a proposed equipment purchase.

Currently, the landfill contracts with a private company to haul household garbage from the landfill’s transfer station to a waste disposal site in Blountville.

“The people who have been transporting the household garbage have decided they don’t want to do that anymore and they offered to sell their equipment to the county,” Gouge-Dietz said.

With the company going out of business, Gouge-Dietz said the owners offered to sell one truck and five trailers to the county for a price of $135,000.

Gouge-Dietz said Carter County Solid Waste Director Benny Lyons had looked into contracting with other companies to haul the household garbage after the current contract expires, but he was not able to find any companies willing to take the deal for the same rate. The other companies wanted a significant price increase to haul the household garbage, Gouge-Dietz said.

According to Gouge-Dietz, she and Lyons spoke with Carter County Finance Director Brad Burke to “run the numbers” to see what the best course of action would be. After looking at the numbers, the decision was made to recommend purchasing the equipment from the current contractor and allow the landfill to begin hauling the household garbage to the disposal site.

“This is going to be a great savings for the county,” Gouge-Dietz said. “Barring any problems, in 10 years we can save $1 million.”

“I don’t think people realize how good Benny is at finding these deals,” she added.

Currently, the landfill is sending out an average of two or three loads per day to the Blountville disposal site.

The truck and trailers could also be used for other landfill operations. Gouge-Dietz pointed to the landfill’s current demolition site, which is approaching the end of its life at the current location. County officials have discussed operating a transfer station for demo disposal once the current demo site has to be closed.

“If we have to close the demo landfill, we could use these trailers to haul those materials as well,” Gouge-Dietz said.

The proposal to allow Lyons to purchase the truck and trailers has been approved by both the Landfill Committee and the Budget Committee. It will be presented to the full County Commission on July 17.