Agenda - 04-01-2014 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 of costs. The remainder of the funding is provided by the General Fund supported by all County taxpayers, both municipal and rural, regardless of jurisdiction,type of property or whether they use the centers. 27. What is the total tax value of tax exempt properties within the proposed service district? Total value of exempt properties including building and land is$224,559,229. 28. Why did the Commissioners abolish the previous RAral 3-R Fee without first determining where the replacement funding would come from? What was the urgency? The Board of Commissioners received a recommendation from the County Manager and the County Attorney that recent actions by the legislature and courts raised questions as to the County's legal authority in imposing the RAral 3-R Fee and that the Board should consider eliminating that Fee. The Board responded to that recommendation. 29. Is it true that Catawba County leads the state in recycling? I thought Orange County was the state's leader? The Nate of North Carolina General Statutes requires measurement of the rate of waste landfilled per person in each county annually and there is a statewide goal of 40% waste reduction that was to have been achieved by 2001. It was 12%statewide last year. That rate of landfilling per person is then compared to an established base year of 1991-92 and the difference is that County's waste reduction rate. By this statutorily required metric, Orange County led the Mate of North Carolina with a 58%waste reduction rate in FY2012-13. Orange County also had the highest waste reduction rate for the preceding four years. For comparison, Catawba County's waste reduction rate was 27%in FY2012/13. Catawba County had the Mate's highest rate of recycling per person in FY 12-13 as calculated separately by the NC DENR Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service from annual local government reports. Orange County was sixth last year by that measure and has generally been in the top ten since the metric was established. That metric was independently established by the NC DENR Division of Environmental Assistance and Outreach in the early 2000s as an alternative means of evaluating progress in SDIid Waste Management. It is also believed that this alternative "unofficial" means of presenting recycling was developed due to the overall poor progress state-wide with regard to waste reduction per capita performance and that this alternative method would shed a more positive light on state performance. It is not statutorily required but measures recycling progress County by County. In Counties with large industrial and commercial recycling programs that are connected to local government operationsthe recycling per person may be reported as higher than thosewith less industry. Eg. UNCChapel Hill reports its 4,400 tons of recycling separately from Orange County. In the original omnibus State SDlid Waste Bill in 1989, the State did establish recycling goals at rates of 25% and 40% but in 1991 revised that metric to be a waste reduction rate. The rationale for using a waste reduction measure is that it is calculated by the State, independently from what is reported by each County as recycled in its programs. Further, the waste reduction rate more holistically reflectsthe means other than recycling of reducing waste such as backyard composting, `smart shopping', encouragement of reuse and repair asalternativesto disposal. 6