By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Rarely does a reading of the abatements go by at the Great Bend City Council meetings without a mention of a property in violation because of improper storage of tires.
The Barton County Landfill accepts all sizes of tires for disposal, but there is a fee that is accompanied with the drop off.
Art Keffer, with Great Bend code enforcement, said paying the small fee at the
land fill is much better than the bill you will see if the city gets involved with
an abatement.
"If the city takes it, there will be an administrative fee, dumping fee and the cost of the person's time for doing it," said Keffer.
Keffer said if the city has to remove the tires, the expense to the property
owner can easily be $300 for a few tires.
Depending on the size, the cost to dispose a tire at the landfill can cost
between $1 and $25.
Landfill Director Phil Hathcock said while the county does
charge for tire drop offs, the fee doesn’t come close to covering the expense
involved with tire disposal.
"We try to keep the cost lower than what it costs us to get rid of the tires because we don't want them ending up in the ditch and becoming a problem," said Hathcock. "The commission and landfill management decided it's best to subsidize that to keep the county clean."
Barton County subsidizes the tire disposal expense, approximately $15,000 each
year, for a company to take the tires. The tires do not go in county’s landfill
because they do not compact well.