By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg City Council has tabled a plan to outsource sludge disposal to Casella Waste Monday.

Department of Public Works Director Scott Thornhill proposed a plan to contract with Casella Waste to haul and dispose of its sludge. Sludge is a byproduct of sewage treatment at the city’s wastewater plant.

Thornhill said the disposal arrangement would cost $91.87 a ton if the city entered a five-year contract. Thornhill said the sludge currently goes to a landfill, but under this plan, it would be taken to a plant that processes it so it can be reused as fertilizer on farms.

The city currently hauls its own sludge for disposal using its own vehicles manned by DPW staff and pays a dumping fee of about $65 per ton.

Thornhill said that when factoring in fuel, vehicle wear-and-tear, permits, man-hours spent on disposal and the cost for dumping, the $91.87 per ton charge is a wash cost-wise.

“We are breaking even,” he said.

However, at Monday’s city council meeting, Deputy Mayor Michael Morley and Mayor Wayne Ashley disagreed with his assessment. Morley said the plan would cost the city an additional $20,000 per year, because the DPW employees would be getting paid regardless of whether or not they were hauling the waste.

Thornhill said the DPW would gain 9 to 12 hours that could be spent on other areas, such as vehicle maintenance, which would improve efficiency in his department.

But Mayor Ashley was not swayed. He said that given the city’s current budget dilemma, adding costs was an unreasonable move.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said.

Other councilors said they’d like to see a cost analysis, which Thornhill prepared, but did not present at the meeting. A motion was made to table the contract until the Dec. 5 meeting, so council could review the analysis.

The council unanimously agreed to table the resolution, but Ashley said he did not plan on supporting the contract.