Montmorency County Has No Recycling Funding. The Real Decision Is How to Pay for It.

Montmorency County is one of the five counties in a new regional recycling plan. Its column in the funding table is blank. In May 2026, the regional planning committee went through what each county currently spends on materials management. Next to Montmorency, the minutes read "none," with a note that says "Montmorency has nothing." The plan's public comment period closes Oct. 30. The plan does say where a drop-off site might go, but the bigger open question for people in Hillman, Atlanta and Lewiston is who pays for it, and how.

Five Counties, Three Answers and Two Blanks

The regional plan covers Montmorency, Alpena, Alcona, Iosco and Oscoda counties. The Montmorency County Tribune reported in its Oct. 14 edition that the county board held a public hearing on Oct. 8. It also reported that commissioners will have to decide how to fund recycling drop-off sites in Atlanta, Hillman and Lewiston. Three of the neighboring counties have already answered that question, each in a different way.

Each method produces something different. Alpena's $25 shows up on winter property tax bills. According to The Alpena News, Alpena County has seven drop-off sites for roughly 29,000 residents. In Iosco, a millage went to voters and passed narrowly, according to the committee's November 2025 minutes. Alcona has no county funding and runs on volunteers and a $5-per-car fee. Montmorency hasn't chosen yet.

The Bar the Plan Sets Is Low on Purpose

The plan comes from a state rule. In 2022 the Michigan Legislature amended Part 115 of the state's environmental law. The amendments took effect in March 2023, and they require every county to write a materials management plan. EGLE's materials management planning page explains the process. The statewide goal is to raise Michigan's recycling rate from 25% to 30% by 2029. Elisa Seltzer of Resource Recycling Systems, the firm the state hired to help write the plan, told Alpena County commissioners that the region is recycling at less than 10%, based on the limited data available.

"There's not a lot of data for the region," Seltzer said. "There's more in Alpena County than the other counties, but there's still quite a lot of data missing for what's actually going on."

That quote comes from The Alpena News coverage of her Sept. 22 presentation.

Montmorency's target is modest. According to The Alpena News, the county plans to work toward at least one drop-off center per 10,000 residents, open at least 24 hours a month, with progress shown by 2032. The plan also records where residents said they would like a site: Atlanta, Hillman or Lewiston. Seltzer called the state's benchmarks "a pretty low bar."

Twenty-four hours a month comes out to about six hours a week, roughly one Saturday morning plus a weekday afternoon. A site open that little still meets the standard. So the location question has a fairly predictable answer, and the open questions are how many hours a site is open and what it accepts. Those depend on the budget behind it.

What You Can Do With Recycling Today

For now, the closest landfill doesn't solve the problem. MOA Landfill is at 6751 Landfill Road in Atlanta, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. MOA's 2026 rate page says plainly that it "does not have a recycling program currently" and tells residents to check with their township. MOA does keep a scrap-metal container for small amounts. All metal is charged a fee except washers, dryers and ranges. The landfill can't take tires until further notice. It also turns away yard clippings, liquids, vehicle batteries, fluorescent bulbs and motors, including boat motors and riding mowers.

The next option is the Northeast Michigan Materials Management Authority's recycling facility at 4395 M-32 W. in Alpena. It's open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Residents from outside Alpena County pay $60 a year for a membership, according to the authority's 2026 price sheet. You can pay by card over the phone at 989-354-2607 or by check. Glass drop-off is free. The facility takes mixed paper, cardboard, and clean, empty plastic, metal and aluminum containers. It does not take plastic bags, Styrofoam, textiles, wood or construction debris. The drop-off list on alpenarecycling.org shows seven full-time sites, all at Alpena County addresses.

That $60 membership is the closest thing Montmorency County has to a recycling price tag today. One household pays it, and pays it alone. In Alpena County, a household pays a $25 surcharge and has seven drop-off sites in the county.

Three Funding Tools, Three Different Paths

The approved minutes of the May 21 planning committee meeting go over the three most common ways a county pays for this work. Each one starts with a resolution from the county board of commissioners. After that the paths split.

1. PA 138 surcharge. The county board passes a resolution, and no public vote is required. The charge is capped at $2 a month or $25 a year per household. The money can cover recycling, household hazardous waste, tires, batteries and yard clippings. This is the method Alpena County uses.
2. PA 69 surcharge. This one needs a board resolution and a public vote. The cap is $4 a month or $50 a year per household, and it can include commercial businesses. It covers the same kinds of materials as PA 138.
3. Millage. The board passes a resolution putting a millage on the ballot. The resolution sets the exact rate, how many years it lasts, the estimated first-year revenue and the election date. One mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value. This is the method Iosco used.

The arithmetic shows how they differ. A household surcharge costs every household the same amount. A millage scales with property value: at Iosco's rate of 0.45 mills, a property with $100,000 in taxable value would pay $45 a year, and one with $200,000 would pay $90. Of the three, only the PA 138 surcharge can be put in place without voters weighing in. Committee members also discussed how quickly costs pile up at household hazardous waste collection events. That explains why each funding tool spells out exactly which materials its money can cover.

There is also a deadline for the region as a whole. The Tribune reported that two-thirds of the region's counties must approve the plan. If they don't, the state will draft a plan that the counties must follow.

This is general information about how these funding mechanisms are set up, not legal, tax or financial advice. For how any charge would affect your own property, check with the county or a tax professional.

Getting a Comment In Before Oct. 30

The comment window runs through Friday, Oct. 30. Comments go through the form on Alpena County's Materials Management Plan page, which serves all five counties. Montmorency County's materials management page links to the same form. It also notes that a printed copy of the plan is available in the County of Montmorency Boardroom/Courtroom B at 12265 M-32 in Atlanta, where the Oct. 8 hearing was held. The Tribune reported that a county survey found residents want to be able to recycle and want sites in convenient locations. The form is the place to say which town, which hours and which funding method would work for your household.

At Hillman Real Estate, we pay attention to county decisions like this one because they affect what it costs to own a home here year to year. If you're trying to figure out where a new county charge would fit into the costs on a cabin or year-round home in Montmorency County, give us a call and we'll go through the numbers with you. Get in touch.