The City of Marquette entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement for the disposal of solid waste and the establishment of a joint solid waste management authority on June 16, 1988, along with 21 other constituent municipalities. Under the agreement, the municipalities are responsible for overseeing collection and transportation of solid waste generated under this jurisdiction. As part of this responsibility, they are responsible for authorizing haulers and collection of system charges from those haulers through their internal invoicing process. The agreement also requires all solid waste generated in the County to be hauled to the facility created by this agreement.

This process was later confirmed and expanded upon in a user agreement between the Marquette County Solid Waste Management Authority (MCSWMA) and the City of Marquette entered into on July 10, 1989. Such agreements were authorized when the Articles of Incorporation for the Authority were adopted by the City Commission on July 11, 1988.

The way this is carried out is that the hauler obtains a permit from the City and the City is billed on a monthly basis by the MCSWMA for all permitted haulers using the facility. The annual City budget reflects this process with an estimated corresponding expense and revenue that cancel each other through our internal invoicing process. This is essentially pass through money. In the event that the expense is less than or greater than the budgeted amount the offsetting revenue is adjusted accordingly through our internal invoicing process.