Morgan County, IN Trash & Recycling: Illegal Dumping (2026)

Morgan County Code § 51.04 prohibits four categories of illegal disposal in unincorporated Morgan County, Indiana: discarding solid waste along any roadway unless it sits in a proper waste storage container awaiting collection along a designated route; discarding inert solid waste as fill material without the property owner's express consent, including on county road rights-of-way; discarding inert waste mixed with contaminants; and dumping at any location that isn't an approved, properly permitted landfill. The County Board of Health and County Health Officers enforce the chapter under § 51.06, starting with an inspection and a written notice of violation that states the nature of the violation, orders abatement, sets a method, and gives 15 to 30 days to comply.

A second notice follows if the first deadline passes, and the County Attorney takes over if the violation still isn't abated, filing an enforcement action and asking the court for a hearing. Courts may issue injunctions, judgments, license suspensions or revocations, inspection orders, orders to vacate or demolish a structure, or a penalty capped under I.C. 36-1-3-8(a)(10), plus court costs under I.C. 33-37-4-2 and 33-37-5. Property owners get a hearing before the local Health Board on demand under § 51.07. If the county has to abate a nuisance itself, its costs become a lien on the property, capped at $10,000 for occupied, unoccupied, or unimproved residential parcels and $20,000 for all other property, collected the same way as delinquent taxes.

Section 51.99 layers a fine schedule on top of the abatement-cost lien: $100 for a first violation, $500 for a second, and $1,000 for a third or later violation, assessed at the discretion of the Code Enforcement Officer or the hearing authority.