Staff recommends the City Council approve the one-year landfill agreement with Yellowstone County and the five-year landfill agreements with the City of Laurel, the City of Powell, MacKenzie Disposal, Republic Services, Stillwater County, and Two Tough Guys Services.

The Billings Regional Landfill currently accepts waste from adjoining counties and cities and towns within those counties, as well as from limited areas in Wyoming.  This has been accomplished with agreements with cities, counties, and private haulers that are responsible for hauling the waste.  The agreements with private haulers require that they obtain pre-approval from the Public Works Department for the service area that the private hauler will haul from.  Landfill use agreements are in effect for the City of Laurel, the City of Powell, Wyoming, MacKenzie Disposal, Inc., Republic Services of Montana, Stillwater County, Two Tough Guy Services LLC, and Yellowstone County.  The agreement with Yellowstone County is a one-year agreement and charges Yellowstone County for the estimated tonnage of self-haul residential waste. The agreement with Yellowstone County is an 8.2% increase for FY25 and is based on increased waste from Yellowstone County residents and an increase of 6.9% in landfill fees approved at the May 28, 2024, Council meeting. All other landfill use agreements are for a term of five years with the option to terminate upon 60 days written notice. 

The current landfill agreements expire on June 30, 2024 and staff recommends the new agreements to be approved effective July 1, 2024.

City Council may:

• Approve the landfill agreements; or,
• Not approve the agreement. If Council does not approve the agreements, there would be a loss of revenue for the Solid Waste Fund, and these landfill users would need to find an alternative to disposal at the landfill.

The landfill agreements will generate approximately $5,400,000 in revenue for the solid waste fund in FY25.