Agenda - 10-30-1997 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 32 In response to a questions, Mayor Waldorf mentioned that July 1st has been mentioned as a possible date for a final decision to be made. D. REORGANIZATION: Mayor Waldorf reported that these meetings got off to a good start with Mayor Nelson providing a list of ideas on which consensus had already been reached. They intend to meet one final time to make additional revisions prior to sending the reorganization recommendation to the elected officials for discussion and action. There were comments, questions and discussion as follows: • In order for the landfill to be financially stable it must be a requirement that units of government use landfill. • No taxes will be levied for a landfill, however, there could be a fee for service to the towns which could come from the General Fund. • Reduction in the amount of solid waste going to the landfill will eventually cause increases in tipping fees because of a decrease in revenues. • Chapel Hill officials have a commitment to assuring that their constituents do not pay twice for solid waste disposal by paying for their own disposal as well as a portion of Orange County's. • The draft agreement indicated that the administrative costs of the system can be charged back to the system. • After adoption of the new plan, the benefits and liabilities will belong to the County. For example, if it is discovered, after the transfer that something illegal was occurring prior to the transfer, the towns will look first to the County to solve the problem. It would be possible at that time that the EPA would determine that all units of government continue to bear responsibility. • Operating the landfill would be the responsibility of the County. Each unit of government would be required to use the landfill. In response to a question, Bob Jessup, the attorney who is working with the L.O.G. indicated that if an environmental disaster was discovered to have existed prior to the transfer the County would be responsible for using system revenue only. If a problem needs to be fixed it would be possible to raise money or to finance and recover the debt service. EPA would also look to the parties who disposed of that waste in the landfill. He also pointed out that the agreement does not transfer the Greene Tract to the County, nor does it address the future of the Greene Tract. In response to a question regarding the cost of recycling Mr. Jessup indicated that Article 5.8 discusses Other Fees , how they would be raised, and what the procedure would be if the County recommended a change and the proposed Solid Waste Commission rejected that recommendation. The possibility of using a district tax was mentioned. It was also suggested that it is not appropriate to use an Interlocal Agreement to determine that General Tax Funds would not be used for collection in non-urban areas. That would be unnecessarily limiting the County. Geoff Gledhill indicated that an agreement that limits the county's ability to use tax revenue is not legally binding and should not be in this agreement.