The Columbia Borough farm makes money! No, not literally, but it does bring in much-needed revenue for the borough.
Prior to leaving his council seat at the end of 2015, Jim Smith showed Columbia Spy how the borough does it.
“We’ve kept this a secret too long,” he said, referring to the farm hidden just off Blue Lane. Smith wanted residents to know about the operations underway on the property, which he sees as beneficial to the borough. He asked Public Works Director Ron Miller to explain the details:
According to Miller, the farm was in disarray just a short time ago. “ It was a dump,” Miller said. He said it took a year to clean up piles of concrete and debris that had been dumped at the farm over many years. Miller credits Jake Graham of the highway department with grading the entire area, with the aid of local excavator Sam Logan, who provided a bulldozer to help complete the work.
After this initial phase was finished, phase two was put into place: Miller applied for and obtained a permit to operate a yard waste facility. He also obtained a grant to purchase equipment required for the operation, thereby saving the borough thousands of dollars on the purchase. Currently, 12 municipalities dump yard waste at the farm, at a cost of $25 a ton. The material is then recycled and sold. (Used asphalt from from road milling is also taken to the farm, where it is processed for reuse in road paving.) Miller projects that the operation could potentially bring in $100,000 this year for the borough, simply by turning what was once perceived as trash into welcome treasure.
Columbia Spy 
$100K really? Where's that show as a revenue line item on the budget?http://www.columbiapa.net/public-docs/budget-information/
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This operation was begun more than twelve years ago when the “one more piece of equipment”, a trundle was purchased used from Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority. The operation has grown and been refined over these years thanks to the guidance of Ron Miller.
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You can't tell by the picture of Jim and Ron, but it was absolutely freezing that day, adding to that was a bitter wind. All things considered, Ron was gracious enough to provide information and a nice story came out of it.
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$100K really? Where's that show as a revenue line item on the budget?http://www.columbiapa.net/public-docs/budget-information/
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This operation was begun more than twelve years ago when the “one more piece of equipment”, a trundle was purchased used from Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority. The operation has grown and been refined over these years thanks to the guidance of Ron Miller.
LikeLike
You can't tell by the picture of Jim and Ron, but it was absolutely freezing that day, adding to that was a bitter wind. All things considered, Ron was gracious enough to provide information and a nice story came out of it.
LikeLike