All four of the state’s professional recycling organizations have come out strongly against proposed cuts of more than $4 million in financial assistance to local governments in the state’s budget.
Supporters of the cuts say local governments can pick up the slack and that the cuts are not that large. However, the recycling groups say the proposed cuts represent a cumulative reduction of greater than 50 percent in just five years’ time, and that it’s too big a hit.
“Unfortunately this is going to affect our business here too,” said Brian Dutcher, Oneida County’s solid waste patrol superintendent, of the local effects. “A portion of that [money] goes down to townships within the program... the towns rely on that money. It’s kind of a domino effect.”