All of the other $6.7 million was 
not.”

In contrast to Hutton’s data 

from the staff meeting, City 
Administrator Howard Lazarus 
emphasized 
the 
inaccurate 

statistics 
presented 
to 
the 

Environmental Commission.

“There was a presentation 

made to the environmental 
commission that was incorrect 
in terms of the fund status,” 
Lazarus said. “The Solid Waste 
Fund is actually in reasonable 
shape. 
The 
fund 
balance 

actually is not dropping in the 
way it was represented and it’s 
not because of staffing.”

According 
to 
Craig 

Hupy, 
public 
service 
area 

administrator, the Solid Waste 
Fund revenue in an average year 
is approximately $14 million 
and will only drop significantly 
if a drastic scenario occurs. 

However, 
Lazarus 
reported 

higher projected numbers for 
the end of the fiscal year than 
Hupy.

“The end of year balance 

for the Solid Waste Fund is 
forecasted for the end of the 
fiscal year to be $22 million,” 
Lazarus said. “There’s a drop in 
what’s called the unrestricted 
fund balance, this is at $8.5 
million, but that’s forecasted 
to rebound in the fiscal year of 
2019 to go up to $10 million.”

The Solid Waste Fund sources 

primarily 
from 
dedicated 

property tax millage, according 
to Lazarus. Both recycling and 
solid waste are supported by 
the Solid Waste Fund. Smith 
explained in an email interview 
the closing of the Materials 
Recovery Facility significantly 
impacted the fund.

“Two 
major 
things 
have 

impacted the fund — The first 
is 
recycling; 
the 
shutdown 

of 
the 
materials 
recovery 

facility or MRF has resulted 

in 
significantly 
higher 
cost 

for recycling at the same time 
markets for these materials 
have declined,” Smith wrote. 
“Second, 
the 
fund 
had 
to 

account for pension and other 
post employment, which was a 
huge hit to the fund balance. On 
the plus side, the new landfill 
contract is 30 percent cheaper 
than our previous one, which 
about offsets the increased 
recycling cost, but what creates 
long term deficits though is the 
MRF, which cannot be safely 
operated 
without 
significant 

investment.”

Mayor Christopher Taylor 

released 
a 
recycling 
report 

explaining 
the 
termination 

of the City’s contract with 
ReCommunity, 
the 
former 

operator of the MRF, and their 
new relationship with Recycle 
Ann Arbor. The new agreement 
is not a long-term, sustainable 
solution but is functioning as a 
temporary service.

“The MRF remains inactive, 

but 
RAA 
utilizes 
the 

location 
to 
organize 

and loose load materials 
for hauling to recovery 
facilities 
in 
Ohio 
and 

Taylor, MI,” Taylor wrote 
in the statement. “Although 
hauling recyclables to Ohio 
is not a long term solution, 
the facility does provide 
improved glass recycling.”

Based 
on 
Hutton’s 

report before the Council 
in December, the City’s 
inadequate staffing is a 
major factor in the Fund’s 
drop.

“Between 
2010 
and 

2014 the City lost four 
experienced solid waste Full 
Time Equivalents and did 
not replace them,” Hutton 
said. “The City has one FTE 
in field operations and a few 
positions with some solid 
waste responsibility. The 
position you authorized in 
2016 still remains unfilled. 
The City is deferring this 
hire until it updates the 
Solid Waste Plan, which 
expires at the end of this 
month.”

However, 
Communications 

Specialist 
Robert 
Kellar 

discounted 
Hutton’s 
report, 

saying 
staffing 
is 
not 
the 

primary concern, since the City 
has had similar levels of staff 
in solid waste as six years ago. 
Hupy also claimed the City has 
accounted for FTEs over the 
past several years.

“We only have one FTE 

open right now and we’re 
interviewing for it,” Hupy said. 
“So the FTE’s that we’ve had 
have been pretty consistent over 
the last six years and as we’ve 
had turnover we’ve filled them.”

Overall, Hupy emphasized 

prioritizing different aspects 
of the plan based on the City 
Council’s goals toward zero 
waste.

“Part of the planning effort 

will have to be prioritization of 
what items get done first and 
with what resources,” Hupy 
said. “This isn’t an unlimited 
amount of money so you have 
to decide what gets done first so 
that’s why the solid waste plan 
goes back through council so 
they can mold it to make sure it 
reflects their values.”

Kellar highlighted recycling 

as the primary concern for the 
2018 Solid Waste Plan based on 
the community’s priorities.

“Recycling is part of our 

sustainability goals, whether it 
costs the city money or makes 
the city money within the 
Solid Waste Fund, we’re going 
to continue doing it because it 
something the community has 
said is of value,” Kellar said.

The 
City 
is 
reportedly 

satisfied 
with 
the 
current 

status of the Solid Waste Fund. 
The new plan aims to fulfill 
zero waste goals but will be 
changing their approach toward 
recycling through community 
collaboration in the process.

“I think people have looked at 

recycling in one way for a very 
long time because it was a very 
stable and an under-the-radar 
market, but that has changed 
dramatically so people are going 
to have to think about recycling 
in new ways,” Kellar said.

2 — Tuesday, January 23, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk

FRIDAY:

Behind the Story

MONDAY:

Looking at the Numbers

News

CHRISTINE MONTALBANO/Daily

TUESDAY:
By Design 

WINTE RFEST

LSA Senior Bosco Yeung and LSA Freshman Quinn Baker practice mini table tennis at their Winterfest table at the Union Monday. 

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily

WASTE
From Page 1

42% 22%

FINANCIAL AID

1700 current students 
qualify for the GO BLUE 
Guarantee (full tuition for 
students w/ family income 
less than 65k)

NEED BASED GRANT

1700 current students 
qualify for the GO BLUE 
Guarantee (full tuition for 
students w/ family income 
less than 65k)

NEED BASED GRANT

2015-2016

6,947

2,577

in state

out of 
state

WEDNESDAY:

This Week in History 

420 Maynard St.

Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327

www.michigandaily.com

ARTS SECTION

arts@michigandaily.com

SPORTS SECTION

sports@michigandaily.com

ADVERTISING

dailydisplay@gmail.com

NEWS TIPS

news@michigandaily.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

tothedaily@michigandaily.com

EDITORIAL PAGE

opinion@michigandaily.com

NATHAN GUPTA

Business Manager

734-418-4115 ext. 1241

nathankg@michigandaily.com

ALEXA ST. JOHN

Editor in Chief

734-418-4115 ext. 1251

alexastj@michigandaily.com

PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION

photo@michigandaily.com

NEWSROOM

734-418-4115 opt. 3 

CORRECTIONS

corrections@michigandaily.com

The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the 
fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available 
free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for 
$2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. 
University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions 

for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. 

DAYTON HARE
Managing Editor haredayt@michigandaily.com

RIYAH BASHA and SOPHIE SHERRY 
Managing News Editor news@michigandaily.com

Senior News Editors: Andrew Hiyama, Carly Ryan, Kaela Theut, Matt Harmon, 
Maya Goldman
Assistant News Editors: Jordyn Baker, Remy Farkas, Riley Langefeld, Elizabeth 
Lawrence, Rachel Leung, Molly Norris, Maeve O’Brien, Shannon Ors, Amara 
Shaikh, Katherina Sourine

ANU ROY-CHAUDHURY and ASHLEY ZHANG 
Editorial Page Editors 
 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Senior Opinion Editors: Elena Hubbell, Emily Huhman, Jeremy Kaplan, Tara 
Jayaram, Ellery Rosenzweig

MIKE PERSAK and ORION SANG
Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com

DANIELLE YACOBSON and MADELEINE GAUDIN
Managing Arts Editors 
 arts@michigandaily.com

Senior Arts Editors: Becky Portman, Sam Rosenberg, Arya Naidu, Dominic 
Polsinelli
Arts Beat Editors: Shima Sadaghiyami, Jack Brandon, Fallon Gates, Asif Becher, 
Sofia Lynch, Tess Garcia

ALEXIS RANKIN and KATELYN MULCAHY
Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com

ROSEANNE CHAO and CASEY TIN
Managing Design Editors 
design@michigandaily.com

BRIAN KUANG
Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com 

Deputy Editors: Colin Beresford, Jennifer Meer, Rebecca Tarnopol

FINN STORER and ELISE LAARMAN
Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com

Senior Copy Editors: Emily Stillman and Allie Bopp

BOB LESSER and JORDAN WOLFF
Managing Online Editors 
 lesserrc@michigandaily.com

Senior Web Developers: Patricia Huang, Abna Panda, Hassaan Ali Wattoo, 
Rebecca Tung

IAN HARRIS
Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com
Senior Video Editors: Abe Lofy, Robby Weinbaum, Jillian Drzinski, Danielle Kim

JASON ROWLAND and ASHLEY TJHUNG 
Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com

Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Zainab Bhindarwala, 
Christian Paneda, Nisa Khan, Na’kia Channey
Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Angelo McKoy, Kareem Shunnar, Maya 
Mokh, Priya Judge, Efe Osagie

ANNA HARITOS and KAYLA WATERMAN
Managing Social Media Editors

Editorial Staff

Business Staff

EMILY RICHNER

Sales Manager

DEANA ZHU and JEFFREY ZHANG 

Sales Manager

CAROLINE GOLD

Media Consulting Manager

CLAIRE BUTZ

Business Development Manager

JULIA SELSKY

Local Accounts Manager

SANJANA PANDIT 

Production Manager

Senior Photo Editors: Amelia Cacchione, Emma Richter, Evan Aaron
Assistant Photo Editors: Claire Meingast, Sam Mousigian, Aaron Baker, Ryan 
McLoughlin, Alec Cohen

Senior Sports Editors: Laney Byler, Mark Calcagno, Robert Hefter, Max 
Marcovitch, Paige Voeffray, Ethan Wolfe
Assistant Sports Editors: Aria Gerson, Ben Katz, Tien Le, Anna Marcus, Ethan 
Sears, Jacob Shames

Sudoku Syndication
http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/

1 of 1
10/8/08 12:37 PM

SUDOKU

HARD

9
3

8

5
2

8

1

7

9

7
3
2

8

3

5

6
4

5
9
1

2
4

5

7
8

4

FLU SPREADING. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com

