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

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61 Fee is ($20 /year /Household); the Incorporated Areas Fee is ($10 /year /Household), and the Multi- family Fee is ($2 /year /multi - family unit). This basic Solid Waste Convenience Center Fee covers a portion of the operating costs of the County's five (5) Convenience Centers. A recent court decision, Lanvale v Cabarrus County, essentially stated that where there was no direct statutory authority to levy a fee, a local government cannot levy a fee. Since the Lanvale opinion was issued, Orange County's staff has been engaged in discussions regarding how, going forward, the County can best address the issues created by this action by the 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 County Manager recommended that the Board of County Commissioners cease assessing the Urban, Rural and Multi- family recycling fees beginning with Fiscal Year 2013/14 Annual Budget. The County Manager further recommended funding these services for Fiscal Year 2013/14 only with solid waste enterprise fund reserves in order to allow the Board of Commissioners time to resolve the funding problem. The Rural Curbside program currently is limited to 13,730 households eligible in the unincorporated area of the County. These services are provided by County Solid Waste staff. Just 6,000 households lack access to rural curbside service at this time. Waste collections in unincorporated Orange County are provided by several private haulers, without a County Franchise Agreement, on a voluntary basis to those using the services. The Urban Curbside recycling serves Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough municipal residents. The services are paid for by Orange County Solid Waste under contract with Waste Industries, Inc. and the towns are responsible for household solid waste within their town limits. The Multi- family recycling serves multi - family establishments in both incorporated and unincorporated Orange County. The multi - family recycling services are provided by Orange County Solid Waste staff. On April 9, 2013 the Board reviewed eight (8) options for Orange County to fund the County's Solid Waste and Recycling Services and eliminated a county -wide Franchise agreement from consideration. The Board held a public hearing on April 23, 2013 to receive public comments on the top three (3) options identified by the Board on April 9, 2013. Attachment 2 provides a detailed assessment of the three (3) options considering the Board's goals and commitment to recycling. Those options are: 1) Create a County -Wide Solid Waste Management Authority, 2) Create a Solid Waste Tax Service District; and 3) Eliminate Rural Curbside Recycling. The Board unanimously wished to maintain the current recycling program and • Directed the Manager to meet with the Managers of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough to determine their willingness to participate, to ascertain their needs and concerns, and report back to the Board of Commissioners by the end of 2012 -13 fiscal year so that the county may proceed with implementation; • Directed the Chair to meet with the three Mayors for a similar, parallel discussion; • Adopted an interim funding plan for 2013 -14 at the end of this fiscal year; • Committed to further investigate both a Solid Waste Tax Service District and a Solid Waste Authority.