Minutes 04-23-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Frank Clifton said Orange County has contracts with schools and their own facilities but multi-family units would require the town to take action. Commissioner Dorosin clarified that a tax district would be funded with a tax, but the authority would be funded by fees. Frank Clifton said this would be one methodology, but there are several options. Commissioner Dorosin asked if those fees would be levied on everyone who is subject to that authority. Frank Clifton said the authority can provide services and charge fees accordingly. He said, if the service is not provided, the fee won't be levied. Commissioner Dorosin asked if the fee is based on the service being available or based on the service being used. Frank Clifton said it will be the first choice. John Roberts said he spoke to one of the attorneys at a solid waste authority in the eastern part of the state and he said the fee structure there includes a base fee similar to the county and there are collection fees for collection areas. He said that district does not have a mandatory curbside collection fee for rural areas. Commissioner Dorosin said one of the elements of the criteria is equity. He said if the goal is to not to impose this on anyone, he wonders if the authority is the way to go. Frank Clifton said it will take a period of time to establish an authority and therefore the thought is to do the tax district in the interim. He feels the tax district is the best immediate option with the authority being phased in. Commissioner Dorosin said legally the authority would have the authority to say this would be a fee based system within its established jurisdiction. John Roberts said he feels the authority is the way to go. He said this only requires the creation of a resolution and submission to partner entities. He said reality may prove different than this. Commissioner Price said she has concerns about authority and the amount of control the county and towns would have. She questioned how much control over fees Orange County would have and she brought up the issue of equity and fairness. John Roberts said the county would have limited control because it is an independent local authority. He said the County would establish the authority and appoint members, but it would be an independent local government. Commissioner Price referred to the small haulers getting with the staff, and said she thought the small haulers wanted a working group. Chair Jacobs said the legal and technical feasibility of the proposals would need to be considered before creating expectations of working it out. Commissioner Rich asked if a tax district option would mean the district remains the same as the current curbside pick-up. Frank Clifton said this is an option. He said that a public hearing can be held to create a single countywide tax district for the unincorporated areas of Orange County. He said that if a district were created only for the people involved in the limited service area that exists now, that requires a different notification process. He said there is a way to amend the district boundaries at a later point. John Roberts said he has looked at the process again since his previous discussion with the manager, and he has changed his mind. He does not think there is a difference in the process for creating a countywide district versus a smaller district. He said in either case, each person in the district must be notified. He said if the towns want to be involved, it will have to be done by resolution. Commissioner Rich asked if the towns could be included at the onset of the district creation.