SENECA FALLS — More money for the town of Seneca Falls. More years of operation for Seneca Meadows Landfill.

Those are the key amendments to the host community agreement that the Seneca Falls Town Board will be considering at its meeting tonight.

In fact, it’s a lot more money — the landfill would pay the town no less than $5 million a year, up from the $3 million to $3.5 million it currently pays. And it’s a lot more time — the landfill could operate until Dec. 31, 2037, 12 years longer than is currently allowed under Local Law 3 of 2016.

The amendments are part of an agreement that would settle the landfill’s lawsuit challenging Local Law 3 of 2016, which requires the landfill to close by Dec. 31, 2025.

According to a Memorandum of Understanding, which will be before the board tonight, a $3.5 million payment also would be made to the town upon execution of the amended agreement. That payment would be held in escrow until all legal challenges to the host agreement or any of the other pending actions have been defeated and are unappealable.

Lawyers for the town — Town Attorney David Foster and outside counsel David Hou of the Boylan Code law firm of Rochester — negotiated the MOU with attorney Scott Turner of Nixon Peabody, representing Seneca Meadows, after the landfill filed a lawsuit in December 2017 challenging Local Law 3.

Some board members and landfill officials also were involved in negotiations. All five members of the board were contacted by email yesterday for comment but none had replied by deadline.

Meanwhile, the Seneca Falls Environmental Action Committee is urging its members and the general public to attend tonight’s Town Board meeting.

“Please join us to give our presence further impact and support no new host community benefit agreement and closure of Seneca Meadows Landfill by 2025,” states a notice from the committee.

Some of the other amendments to the host agreement being proposed are:

• In lieu of quarterly payments, beginning Jan. 1, 2019, host payments will be no less than $5 million, to be paid in advance toward the town’s anticipated 5.5 percent share of SMI’s gross annual revenues. That amount would be held in escrow until all challenges to any of the actions referenced in the agreement have been defeated and are unappealable. The payment would be returned to SMI if that condition cannot be met.

• Beginning in 2019, in the event 5.5 percent of SMI’s yearly gross revenues exceed the $5 million, that additional difference will be paid to the town on Jan. 1 of the following year, along with the $5 million advance due for that year.

• The percentage of gross annual revenue the landfill will pay the town will go to 6 percent in 2022 and then to 6.25 percent in 2025 and to 6.5 percent in 2028.

• In the event host community fee payments do not total $5 million in any given year, the town may, at its sole discretion, exercise the right to change the contractual closure date to that year in which the $5 million payment failure occurs.

• SMI will stop accepting waste by Dec. 31, 2037, and begin closure activities as required by the DEC. The host agreement will also end Dec. 31, 2037, and SMI agrees to limit any request for a DEC permit to 2037.

• The current Town Board would agree not to oppose infill of the former Tantalo site within the landfill’s property.

• Breach of the amended HCA by the parties will be enforced pursuant to the same terms as the 2007 host agreement.

If the MOU is approved, the board also may consider a motion authorizing town engineers to prepare Part I of the full Environmental Assessment Form for the proposed settlement agreement, the proposed amendments to the 2007 host agreement and the proposed new local law amending Local Law 3 of 2016.

Local Law 3 was passed by a 3-2 board vote. David DeLelys is the only one of the three still on the board. Current board members Doug Avery and Vic Porretta have indicated support for the 2025 closure.

The Seneca Falls Environmental Action Committee, headed by Valerie Sandlas, also said people can make their views known on the local law by contacting board members directly, listing their email addresses and telephone numbers.

“There have been some worrying developments around the future of the landfill,” the message states. “Not only have Greg Lazzaro (town supervisor) and Lou Ferrara (board member and deputy supervisor) expressed a desire for a new host agreement, but a recent report detailing the town’s legal team alleged reluctance to mount an effective defense against the landfill’s legal challenge to the local law.

“All signs point to members of town government and the landfill working backdoor to ensure the landfill remains operating for a long time, which means more stench, more traffic and a bigger mountain of garbage.”

State Supreme Court Judge Daniel Doyle has granted four two-month postponements of the SMI lawsuit. The next court date is Oct. 30 in Rochester.

Today’s meeting is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. in the Community Center at 35 Water St.