Fentress Rescinds Dump Fee For Drop Off At Transfer Station

Fentress County will no longer have a dump fee in place to dispose of waste materials at its transfer station

County Executive Jimmy Johnson said the county had put a $50 per ton fee in place about two years ago. He said the fee became more trouble than it was worth, because it was not easily enforced and created disorder.

“It actually boils down to where it was going to cost about $35,000 to have a man to do that all the time and the return was just going to be $8,000 or $9,000, $12,000 for it,” “So it just came down to this was financially a no-win situation for us.”

Johnson said the county was also having issues with people from other counties dumping trash at their site and outside of the hours. He said 30 bags of trash were just left at the site when it closed for a holiday.

Johnson said because of this, in addition to rescinding the dump fee there will also be an added emphasis on accepting county-only trash. He said if an individual tries to dump trash without a verified Fentress address or an official Fentress trash truck, they will be turned away.

“And this could be brought up again, it might not have gone away forever,” Johnson said. “But this is how it will operate going forward, and hopefully will clear up any chaos or confusion.”