News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena city manager and Northeast Michigan Material Management Authority treasurer Rachel Smolinski, left, gives a recycling presentation to the Alpena County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Board of Commissioners is considering providing financial assurance for the Northeast Michigan Material Management Authority for up to $1.6 million worth of 20-year bonds.

The authority wants to sell the bonds to help pay for the construction of a new recycling facility near the Alpena County Regional Airport.

If the county does not agree to be the guarantor of the bond’s payment, the proposed $5.1 million project could fall to the wayside.

The recycling authority also needs the revenue from the bonds to take advantage of a $2.7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture allocation toward the facility, but the federal funds won’t be released until all of the money for the project is in line.

Property owners in Alpena County already pay a $25 recycling surcharge.

At Tuesday’s Alpena County Finance, Ways and Means meeting, Alpena city manager and recycling authority treasurer Rachel Smolinski gave a presentation to the commissioners providing an update on the project and the money it has committed to the project thus far.

The presentations also explained the current recyclable volume in Alpena County, and volume projections six years out.

Smolinski also explained to the committee that there would easily be enough revenue from the surcharge and from material sales to cover the bond payment.

The recycling authority said it would allow the county to create a line item in its budget where the surcharge funds would be directly deposited until the bond payment is due.

The bond payment ranges from about $50,000 at the low payment and $125,000 at its high point.

Smolinski said the design and engineering plans, as well as environmental and surveying work, are completed and the request for proposals and bids are set to be released. However, the bid documents can’t be sent until all of the funding is in place.

The goal is to have construction of the recycling center, which would be located at the corner of M-32 and Airport Road, begin in July and have it open and operational next summer.

Commissioners Lucile Bray, Bill Peterson, John Kozlowski, and Brenda Fournier asked several questions about the project, its funding, and the county’s liability to pay for the bonds if something goes wrong and the county is on the hook for the payments. Commissioners Todd Britton, Dan Ludlow, Travis Konarzewski, and Bill LaHaie were mute during the presentation and discussion.

Only one of the commissioners tipped their hand on how they intended to vote when the issue comes up again at the next board meeting on March 25.

Fournier said she supports recycling, but because of the financial liability the bonds would place on the county, which is already struggling and mired in debt, she could not support the recycling authority’s request.

Fournier said the county already has long-term bond debt for the airport terminal, the new jail, and for energy improvements made to county families. She said bonds were needed to help cover the cost of constructing the Northern Lights Arena and once they were paid off, the county was responsible for management, maintenance, and repairs, which can be costly. She said the county has to do the same with the Plaza Pool and she doesn’t want to risk more financial risk to the taxpayers if something unexpected were to happen to recycling in the next two decades.

“We have heard this before,” she said. “We have heard everything is going to be ok, and then we end up with another facility. We have got stuck before for these fabulous pieces of property and we are still paying for some of them. We can’t sell them because nobody wants them so we just pay and pay. We don’t have the money. We asked people for a millage and they said no and told us we had to figure things out for ourselves, so I will be voting no on this because we just can’t afford it.”

Smolinski said the number of people and the amount of recyclables coming into the current recycling center, which needed upgrading years ago, is on the climb. She said when the new facility is constructed, surrounding counties that are establishing recycling programs will likely have their material sent to Alpena and pay a tipping fee, which will also help keep the program solvent. Data shows, she says, that both users and the volume of materials will continue to grow.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.