Minutes 05-24-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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By comparison, in Wake and Chatham Counties - Every convenience center is open on Sunday and on every holiday except Christmas and Thanksgiving. Most of the centers are open 7 days a week. We realize that there's a cost—and we are willing to pay for the services that we, as rural customers, use. But not for services that we do not need. For example: • There are 21,000 rural households in Orange County. Of these, 12000 already pay for curbside recycling services from the county. Yet only 60% of this group uses these services. That's 7,200 households, roughly 1/3 of rural households. • On the other hand, 2/3rds of the rural households use the convenience centers. And they consider this a basic service, like schools, libraries and other services that we pay for with our taxes. We are disappointed that this basic service is being singled out for a tiered fee. It artificially separates rural residents from the towns, and assumes that all rural residents are the same. Already there's a 1/3 vs. 2/3 dichotomy in the way the rural community uses these services. Clearly one size does not fit all. Isn't it possible, preferable, and economically reasonable to devise a service model that distinguishes curbside users from convenience center users? And isn't it more reasonable to charge a single fee for each group. One fee, not three. One understandable fee assessed for the services used. We have a petition signed by people from the Schley Community that asks you to 1. oppose any new property tax fees for solid waste convenience centers, for the next 5 years 2. oppose improvements like trash compactors, dump ramps, and paving for the next 5 years 3. support reinstating a 6 day per week schedule, including Sunday. Please open all the convenience centers on Sunday and delay the new solid waste fee until there is a meaningful service model for residents in the rural parts of the county. Please assure us that residents will be invited to participate in the developing a service that that makes sense. Thank you" Steve Graf read from a prepared statement: "As you know, Orange County Voice is on record as opposing the $3 million capital project to pave the convenience centers and add compactors. It's not a bad idea. It's just bad timing. From our perspective—except for the hours - the convenience centers are not broken. The county is not planning to go to Durham in the near future, so hauling efficiencies are no longer a pressing issue. Our concern is that there's no long term vision —and we risk investing in automation, paving and other infrastructure that's designed around a landfill that's soon to close.