If the city cannot sell the landfill, it's certain that number will grow significantly in future years. Taxes were increased only because the existing leadership chose to raise them. The more environmentally and economically efficient approach, as noted above, would be to increase trash fees, based on the volume of trash generated. This would reward waste reduction and recycling, and charge the trash-makers, not the taxpayers for the landfill debt. The landfill situation may sound complex, but it's rather simple.
Individuals go bankrupt and businesses go bankrupt.
Governments rarely go bankrupt because they have the ability to tax you. But, under current conditions, the Bethlehem landfill would be bankrupt if it were owned by a private business. The decision would be made for the owners. The analogy is misleading. It does reflect Smith Administration practice, but it neglects the obvious real world response by people who have valuable assets like a home or business property but face debt service payments they cannot meet.