Hundreds of Montezuma County residents took advantage of the county’s free clean-up days at the landfill Friday and Saturday, dropping off old appliances, furniture, electronics, and tires without paying a fee.
Even early in the morning, a line dozens of vehicles long stretched out from the landfill. People waited patiently despite it taking more than three hours for most to get their turn.
The county commissioners have made cleaning up local properties one of their priorities and decided that offering incentives is preferable to threatening people with fines.
At their workshop and regular meeting this week, the commissioners decided to change a county sales-tax proposal they may put on the November ballot.
They had said its revenues would be split 60-40 between the sheriff’s office and road and bridge fund. This week, they said the 60 percent would stay with the sheriff’s office, but the road and bridge fund would get just 30 percent of revenues - with that aimed toward improvements such as putting asphalt on roads.
The other 10 percent would go to a fund dedicated to helping decrease rubbish in the county through reduced fees at the landfill or other measures.
“This may be a way to get some of this cleaned up without having to battle with people,” said Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer, who reportedly suggested the idea.
The tentative sales-tax proposal will now go out for a survey so the public can give feedback.
