Morrice says new transfer station dump fees took effect July 1

If you haul your own trash to the Morrice transfer station, you are paying more than you were this spring. The village has posted a notice telling residents that new pricing at the station "went into effect July 1st" and asking them to review the new rates before their next visit.

The notice does not list the rates. It says an updated price list is attached to the post, which means anyone trying to plan a load — a couch, a pickup bed of construction debris, a load of shingles — has to open the attachment rather than read the numbers on the page.

There is also a date problem. The Current reported that at its June 9 meeting the village council approved higher dump fees effective July 12. The village's own notice puts the change on July 1. Which date the scale house actually used is not answered by the notice.

The station is a village operation, and the council has been working both sides of the price question. The Current reported that on July 28 the council voted 5-0 to put a $1-off transfer station coupon in its next village mailer. At the same stretch of meetings, the council shelved a proposed expansion of the station until 2027 bidding, and awarded a $23,885 South Street sidewalk contract to SA Smith Paving of Owosso.

The transfer station is one of the few village services residents pay for per trip rather than through a bill, which is why the posted rate sheet matters. It is also the service the council has chosen to advertise, hanging one of its 150-year celebration banners at the site.

What happens next: the village has not published the individual rates in plain text on its website, and it has not reconciled the July 1 date in the notice with the July 12 effective date the council approved. Residents who want the numbers before loading up can reach the clerk's office at 401 N. Main St., [email protected] or (517) 625-4170. We have asked the village for the rate sheet and for confirmation of the effective date.