BROKEN BOW— The Custer County Board of Supervisors met in the Courthouse in Broken Bow on Tuesday morning in regular session and then came together again in the afternoon for budget appropriation and adoption. Supervisor Barry Fox was the lone absence.
Future of County Recycling Center considered alongside budget talks
The seating area in the Supervisors room had more space occupied than normal. Citizens from across the county were in attendance for the discussion about the Custer County Recycling Center and the possibility of its operation being shut down to assist in the County’s budget.
The decision necessary was obvious: keep operating the recycling center or shut it down. Those considering ceasing the center’s operation generally based their side of the argument on dollars and cents and who the responsibility falls on to pay for it. Those opposed to shutting down the recycling center argued that government services to citizens shouldn’t be operated like a business with profit and loss as the main concern.
“We’re not against it. We’re against the amount of money the county is investing into it,” said Board Chairman Charles (Chip) Blowers. He added that a report he found from the Nebraska Recycling Council in 2021 stated that of 97 incorporated western towns in Nebraska, 55% offered recycling and of those none have programs supported financially by the county. Instead, the financials are covered by cities and trash collectors.
“I feel like this is an undue burden on the property taxpayers in our county, they’re paying an unfair share. That’s my personal opinion. I think there needs to be an interlocal agreement with the towns or something to cover part of this,” said Blowers. “I know some of the board has strong feelings too, but we’re looking for suggestions, some ways to help fund this without putting it all on our property taxpayers.”
Jeff Selden with the Nebraska chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America was asked if it would even be possible for enough money to be found for the program to break even.
“It’s going to be tough,” said Selden, “because you’re going to need the volume of materials. Because everything that comes into (Recycling Manager Kelly Flynn) Kelly, he has to find a home for. If he has to send partial loads every time that does nothing but increase transportation costs on everything. I think it will be tough to get enough volume to make that work. I think you have enough residents that want this, but you’re not going to get the volume (needed).”
Amidst scattered talks of the cost to the county (approximately $130,000 annually) levies, tax rates, and the obvious stress of a tight budget, several from the audience came forward introducing themselves as citizens, school educators, taxpayers, and as representatives of their community.
Lynette Doane was in attendance representing Ansley and explained a sentiment that several speakers after her echoed.
“Government is all about services to the people. I guess my experience is that there are no services that we provide at the city level that make us money. Swimming pools certainly don’t. Park systems certainly don’t. Street departments certainly don’t. If you’re running lawn enforcement, it all costs you money but you provide those services because it’s good for the public and in this case it’s good for the public and it’s also good for the environment,” said Doane.
Chris Wickham, the attorney for the Custer Transfer Station which houses the recycling center came before the board with a reminder.
“I just want to make sure the board is mindful of the lease that is currently in effect with the Transfer Station where they are landlord with the county being a tenant. Right now we are in the middle of a five year term, so as the county makes this decision they need to be mindful of the obligations of the county pursuant to that lease that renewed for an additional five years a few years ago,” said Wickham.
Dave Downey, a citizen near Merna, said the push and pull of the recycling center in the budget has been an issue since 1994, voicing his disdain with taxpayers paying for rent and losses and that Wickham’s statement gives a timetable to ‘figure it out’.
“Valuations are a major concern because they keep going up,” said Downey. “You guys can keep the levies every year, but then every time we get an assessor’s stuff in the mail, it’s up. So we’re not getting any tax breaks. Never have, never will. You guys are trying to crunch the budget, and I understand that. My suggestion is if there’s grants and stuff available you have two and a half years to figure it out.”
After several more statements from members of the public, Board President Chip Blowers made one final closing statement ahead of the meeting’s adjournment.
“Let’s meet with the towns and try to get an interlocal agreement or something like that. There’s a lot of us board members that don’t feel it’s right for the county to pay the lion’s share of this deal,” said Blowers.
Up-to-date numbers from Recycling Manager Kelly Flynn received after the meeting indicated that since its start, the county has recycled 17,933 tons of recyclables. In addition to communities and schools inside Custer County, several communities and schools outside of the county bring trailers of recyclables in, including Arcadia, Ashton, Garfield County/Burwell, Loup City, and St. Paul.
Flynn added that the rent the county pays the Custer Transfer Station for their space is considerably lower than spaces in the surrounding area which also require tenants to pay taxes and insurance, which Custer County does not have to pay.
Budget for 2025-2026 adopted, operation of Recycling Center will continue
Ultimately, with the arrival of the public hearing and adoption of the budget at 1 PM Tuesday afternoon, the Recycling Center was included in the 25-26 budget.
Susan Maline with McChesney Martin Sagehorn PC CPAs said that the appropriation totals $8,146,113, up about 5.7% from the previous fiscal year. The budget was unanimously approved.
Petty cash funds were approved for County offices as well, ranging from $100 to $550.
Corner Township budget adopted, $14,500 added for roads
Acting on behalf of the Corner Township that was dissolved in May 2024, the board unanimously approved a $20,179.81 budget for the Corner Township. The total includes an additional $14,500 for needed road fixes. A claim with the county for machinery just over $1,700 was also approved.
Other business from Tuesday’s Supervisors meeting
- An application to cross right-of-way for road 789 for Rocks Underground was approved
- Fees for deeds program subscriptions were approved unanimously by the board, in line with the fees charged in Buffalo County
- Support requests were approved for the Custer County and Seven Valleys Historical Societies for $8,500 and $8,000 respectively. Supervisor James (Bump) Markham was the lone vote of ‘no’, but several supervisors highly encouraged more fundraising efforts of the societies as the budget continues to tighten every year.
- A request from Paulsen Inc. to push back a road work start date to March of 2026 due to rainfall was approved pending making sure that all terms of the contract would still be honored, including prices
- Shawn Jacobs with the National Weather Service (NWS) was at the meeting to present Custer County Emergency Management with their ‘Storm Ready Certification’ as a result of the County and the NWS working together to protect the county’s citizens. Jacobs stated that he ‘can count on one hand the amount of counties working at a hectic pace for their citizens’ and that Custer County is one of them.
