13:1E-28. Annual payment to host municipality

19. a. Any municipality within which a sanitary landfill facility is located pursuant to an adopted and approved district solid waste management plan shall be entitled to an annual economic benefit not less than the equivalent of $1.00 per ton of solids on all solid waste accepted for disposal at the sanitary landfill facility during the previous calendar year as determined by the department.

The owner or operator of the sanitary landfill facility shall annually pay to the relevant municipality the full amount due under this subsection and each relevant municipality is empowered to anticipate this amount for the purposes of preparing its annual budget. For the purposes of calculating the payments, the owner or operator of the sanitary landfill facility may, subject to the prior agreement of the relevant municipality and the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection, provide the municipality with any of the following benefits in consideration for the use of land within its municipal boundaries as the location of a sanitary landfill facility:

(1) The receipt of annual sums of money in lieu of taxes on the land used for the sanitary landfill facility;

(2) The exemption from all fees and charges for the disposal of solid waste generated within its boundaries;

(3) The receipt of a lump sum cash payment; or

(4) Any combination thereof.

b. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.1994, c.27).

c. Every owner or operator of a sanitary landfill facility required to make annual payments to a municipality pursuant to subsection a. of this section may petition the Department of Environmental Protection for an increase in its tariff which reflects these payments. The department, within 60 days of the receipt of the petition, shall issue an appropriate order that these payments shall be passed along to the users of the sanitary landfill facility as an automatic surcharge on any tariff filed with, and recorded by, the department for the solid waste disposal operations of the facility.

d. In issuing any order required by this section, the Department of Environmental Protection shall be exempt from the provisions of R.S.48:2-21.

L.1975,c.326,s.19; amended 1985,c.38,s.38; 1991,c.381,s.39; 1993,c.152; 1994,c.27,s.1.