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Mayor Foy said that this is not the issue now. The question is whether it is mare expensive to <br />pick up recycling in the County or in the urban areas. It seems that if people are closer <br />together, that it can be provided mare cheaply. <br />Gayle Wilson said that this would be true if they were collected on the same frequency. The <br />rural curbside program is collected on a biweekly basis, while the urban collection is every <br />week. This makes it slightly cheaper per household. <br />Mayor Foy asked if the fee would be less if they went to a biweekly pickup in the urban area. <br />Gayle Wilson said that the biweekly collection in the urban areas would cost less than biweekly <br />collection in the rural areas. But a consequence would be people significantly increasing their <br />use of the drop-off sites because of the move to a less frequent collection. Costs would be <br />shifted. He said that they could easily change the contract next year to go biweekly in the urban <br />areas, but it would cause problems elsewhere. <br />Jim Ward made reference to the recycling efforts of the urban areas and asked how this has <br />affected the use of the landfill. Gayle Wilson said that Chapel Hill is one of the major <br />contributors to the reasons for the countywide success in recycling and waste reduction. <br />Jim Ward said that it seems that this has extended the life of the landfill and the recycling efforts <br />of the urban areas have basically bought a landfill. He said that this does not seem to be in the <br />equation. <br />Rod Visser agreed with the notion of having bought a landfill. His reaction is if they were <br />pursuing same other method of disposing of the waste, there would be additional casts in the <br />equations that have been avoided by being able to maintain a landfill. <br />Gayle Wilson said that the landfill would have closed much sooner if it were not for the efforts of <br />the urban areas with the recycling and would have been more expensive. <br />Jim Ward asked what would happen in 2010. Gayle Wilson said that if the fee were adopted, <br />they would be evaluating the rate at which citizens pay and they will reassess finances. In <br />2010, the landfill will close and a transfer station will have to open and the surplus revenue <br />generated from the landfill currently will cease to exist in any meaningful way. There will be <br />additional financial issues to deal with. <br />Joal Hall Broun asked if there was any empirical evidence that when you have less recycling <br />pick ups that people will actually drive and drop off their recycling. Gayle Wilson said that very <br />few would nationally, but there would be a higher amount in this community. <br />Rod Visser said that he is one of those people that live in a rural curbside area and they <br />generate more recycling than they could hold on to and wait for biweekly pickup. <br />Joal Hall Broun said that she would do just the opposite. She said that some members of her <br />board think that if waste removal and recycling is a government function then it should be <br />included in your taxes. She has a philosophical issue with this fee. She wants to know if the <br />Board of County Commissioners has considered those on limited incomes. She said that if this <br />were a tax instead of a fee, they could at least write it off their income tax. She understands <br />that it costs to provide recycling. <br />