Beatrice — The Beatrice Area Solid Waste Agency (Boswell) on Tuesday approved its FY 2026–2027 biennial budget, adopted a lease amendment with the City of Beatrice that lowers annual rent and includes additional property, and authorized a professional services task order for landfill sampling, monitoring and testing.

During a public hearing on the proposed FY 2026–2027 budget, agency staff said Boswell’s revenues for FY 2026 are close to prior non-bond years, noting 2025 was higher because of bond proceeds. Officials told the board expenditures for FY 2027 will exceed revenues by about $300,000 because of expenses related to construction and post-closure work on the landfill’s new cell; staff said those costs will draw on closure/post-closure fund reserves rather than appearing on the revenue line.

Agency members approved the proposed budget of disbursements of $2,271,019 for fiscal year 2026 and $2,548,391 for fiscal year 2027 by an 8–0 vote.

Separately, the board passed Resolution No. 80 adopting the second amendment to the 1994 lease with the City of Beatrice. The amendment expands the leased land to include both the north and south sides of the road where the landfill sits, lowers the annual rent by $22,000 to $48,000 per year to help minimize customer rates and retains a 3% annual escalator consistent with the original lease. The resolution passed 8–0.

The board also adopted Resolution No. 81 to execute Task Order No. 24 under the agency’s engineer-owner agreement with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. Burns & McDonnell’s work for FY 2026 includes routine annual items such as air emissions reporting and groundwater monitoring and, for the new landfill areas, the installation of a new groundwater well and gas probes. The task order carries an estimated cost of about $194,800 for FY 2026; the resolution passed 8–0.

Board discussion emphasized that much of the agency’s near-term cash flows will be applied to debt service for the recently issued bonds used to construct the new cell, and that the cell is nearing completion. Staff said sanitary sewer and leachate lines remain to be installed on the north side and that buildings for operations are under construction. On post-closure timing, staff noted a state formula guides closure/post-closure funding levels and that engineering first appears in FY 2027 with dirt-moving work scheduled in later years as closure work begins.

No members of the public spoke during Boswell’s public forum. The board closed the Boswell meeting following passage of the budget and other items by an 8–0 vote.

Speakers and staff referenced in this article are listed below. All votes and resolutions described were recorded in the agency minutes and ordinance/resolution materials filed with the city clerk’s office.