Hall County officials have regained Oakwood as a customer at the county landfill, netting the county some $18,000 more a year in landfill revenues.

Both the county and the city are finalizing an agreement allowing Oakwood officials to dump city residents' trash at the county landfill for $34 per ton.

The price is $6 lower than the county's regular fee at the landfill.

The Hall County Board of Commissioners gave Public Works Director Ken Rearden permission in September to negotiate the county's tipping fee with local municipalities.

The hope was to lure the steady business of trash-collecting municipalities, which would in turn bring in steady revenue for the county government.

Both Oakwood and Gainesville stopped doing business at the landfill when the county raised the price to dump to $40 per ton.

Gainesville officials haven't decided whether to resume doing business with the county landfill, City Manager Kip Padgett told The Times Monday.

The pending arrangement between Oakwood and the county allows the city to dump residents' trash on the floor of the landfill transfer station.

City officials previously expressed concerns about pulling city garbage trucks through mud on rainy days at the landfill. They said they had grown accustomed to the convenience of the transfer station near the airport where they had begun doing business.

The proposed two-year agreement also allows the county to raise the tipping fee charged to the city as it raises the tipping fee for the rest of the public.

The new arrangement does include an allowance for a possible future decision by the commission to outsource the landfill to a private contractor.

If that happens, the contractor will be required to honor the fee agreement until it expires.

The Board of Commissioners is expected to vote on the agreement at its meeting Thursday.