Agenda - 04-23-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 1 county reports 5000 out of the 20,000 county families —about 1/4 -- use curbside trash services. 2 The rest prefer to use the county's five convenience centers. 3 We hope you privatize rural recycling collection — in a voluntary program where county 4 households can opt out. As you know, the town program is already privatized and it works well. 5 We see no reason to pursue waste franchises. Today— private haulers large and small, 6 provide good service at reasonable cost. The Solid Waste Work Group opposed franchises in 7 fear of displacing small, local providers, such as Efland Trash Services, who is here tonight. 8 We opposed more fees. 9 This may be a good time to take a victory lap on the 56% waste reduction rate, and shift your 10 focus to costs and service. With the landfill closing, and the towns going their own way, waste 11 reduction is no longer a reliable measure. Now we need your attention on the fiscal impact of 12 losing millions of dollars from landfill fees, and major new expenses to upgrade convenience 13 centers and haul our trash out of county. 14 Don't worry—we'll still compost and recycle —and the county's work with schools and 15 apartment complexes will help no matter how you measure it. 16 To citizens, what matters is transparency in services, costs and fees. You discussed this at 17 length last week. Most households -- town and county— don't realize that they already pay 3 18 solid waste fees, and more in property taxes. That's in addition to whatever they pay for 19 curbside trash services. 20 So here's some questions we hope you'll ask tonight: 21 1. Can the county quickly privatize rural recycling collection and make it a voluntary 22 program. Is it possible to add county families who want curbside recycling to the 23 program for town residents? 24 2. What are waste franchises and why pursue them? Who benefits? How will services 25 and fees be affected? Will local companies be displaced? Can vendors match the 26 services people are currently receiving? 27 3. Are there other ways to save money and/or improve service? For example, can vendors 28 help haul materials from convenience centers? 29 4. Finally, how will services, costs and fees change as the landfill closes? Is it possible to 30 simplify fees and provide more transparency so citizens can understand how fees relate 31 to services and costs. 32 We'd like to see the county quickly privatize recycling and make it voluntary. We hope you'll 33 delay discussing new services until we all understand the fiscal realities of closing the landfill, 34 and have a simplified fee structure that aligns to service and usage. 35 Thank you 36 37 Janice Palmer thanked the Board of County Commissioners for their work for Orange 38 County. She said she is interested in being educated and she asked why a change was 39 needed. She asked if there had been a study of the pros and cons and the effect of these 40 changes. 41 Rob Taylor said he is speaking from three perspectives. He said as a citizen he 42 appreciates the curbside recycling and he is afraid that he may have to pay more under a 43 franchise and that there seems to be a lack of transparency with this option and process. As a 44 past County employee, he knows this service is co-integrated with many other services that are 45 provided and he said he is worried that if they pull this apart, these others parts may cease to 46 exist. As a state employee, Orange County's recycling program is the most effective in N.C. 47 and franchise programs are less effective that he has seen across the state.