Currently, Elizabethton household trash has to go all the way to Johnson City’s landfill, despite a Carter County landfill existing just five to 10 minutes up the road. Officials are finalizing a contract that would change that.

The Carter County Landfill is finalizing a five-year contract with the city of Elizabethton, in which the city will dump their trash at the county’s landfill instead of a landfill in Johnson City.

Solid Waste Director Benny Lyons said the contract has been in the works for several years.

“We tried to get them five years ago,” Lyons said.

Currently, the county already collects bulk waste from the city, so Lyons said this was a continuation of that partnership.

The original deal fell apart, but Lyons said he kept talking with the city, and the conversations led to a completed contract he presented to the Budget Committee during their Monday night meeting.

If passed by the full commission, this new contract will take effect August 1 of this year.

The city of Elizabethton will still collect their own trash, but instead of taking it to Johnson City, that household trash, and the revenue associated with it, will remain within Carter County instead.

Lyons said current estimates for additional revenue due to this contract are anywhere between $300,000 and $400,000 annually.

“As a county, they should do their business here,” he said of the city. “I think it will benefit us both.”

The contract comes at the tail-end of budget conversations from both the Budget Committee and the rest of the County Commission, as various efficiency improvements have prevented the need for a tax increase for the upcoming year.

The contract has had its road bumps along the way, however. Lyons’s presentation to the Budget Committee included a few budget amendments necessary for the city to approve the contract.

The first point of adjustment came from the ticket system.

The county landfill currently uses a paper ticket system to keep track of how heavy the trucks are and when they are making their dumps at the landfill. He said the city wanted to reduce the possibility of human error while making sure their trash kept flowing through the system.

“They do not want to be slowed down,” he said.

Further, he said the city wanted failure insurance on some of their equipment, so the landfill petitioned the Budget Committee for an additional loader, in case one of them breaks down. The landfill will also open up a position for another landfill worker.

These amendments passed the Budget Committee.

“The citizens will not notice a difference,” Lyons said. “It will be a smooth transition.”

The completed contract will go before the full commission for a final vote during its Monday, July 15 meeting at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse.