Agenda - 01-23-2014 - 7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: January 23, 2014 Action Agenda Item No. 7 -b SUBJECT: Rural Recycling Service District Implementation Planning DEPARTMENT: Solid Waste Management PUBLIC HEARING: (Y /N) No ATTACHMENT(S): 1. October 8, 2013 Abstract — Review Process for Creating a Solid Waste Collection and Disposal District 2. Proposed Service District Implementation Plan 3. Revised Draft Orange County Rural Curbside Recycling Map INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Talbert, 245 -2308 John Roberts, 245 -2318 Gayle Wilson, 968 -2885 PURPOSE: To review and consider authorizing a plan for creation and implementation of a Solid Waste Collection and Disposal District for recycling in unincorporated Orange County and provide direction to staff. BACKGROUND: A recent court decision, Lanvale v Cabarrus County, essentially stated that where there is no direct statutory authority to levy a fee, a local government cannot levy a fee. Since the Lanvale opinion was issued, Orange County staff has been engaged in discussions regarding how, going forward, the County can best address the issues created by this action by the NC Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decision indicates that the Basic Fee is likely consistent with existing law, but the Urban, Rural and Multi- family recycling fees may not be consistent with existing case law. The Board of County Commissioners ceased assessing the Urban, Rural and Multi- family recycling fees beginning with the Fiscal 2013/14 Annual Budget. These services for Fiscal 2013/14 were funded with solid waste enterprise fund reserves in order to allow the Board of Commissioners time to resolve the funding problem. The Rural Curbside Recycling Program currently is limited to approximately about 13,750 households eligible in the unincorporated area of the County. A Rural Curbside Recycling Map is provided at Attachment 3 with existing rural curbside (and previous 3 -R Fee) customers in blue and an added area in yellow to combine with the blue to represent a proposed solid waste tax district. The proposed District includes additional parcels from the existing service area so that it more clearly meets statutory requirements that require parcels within the District be contiguous and represents a more compact and defined area that eliminates isolated pockets of parcels. Furthermore, last year's switch to single stream coupled with the upcoming acquisition of new compacting collection trucks provide efficiencies that permit the addition of up to about 2,000 additional services points without requiring additional resources and will maximize the efficiency