Agenda - 04-01-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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18 1 establish a tax district. She said other options can also be presented at this hearing. She said 2 she does understand the issues of having a long driveway and paying a tax on vacant land. 3 Chair Jacobs addressed John Roberts. He asked, if the Board went ahead with a public 4 hearing and sent out notices to over 13,000 citizens, but then decided to use funding from 5 general fund and include the municipalities, whether any notices would have to be sent if the 6 urban areas were included after the fact. 7 John Roberts said the public hearing process could be followed later by the 8 municipalities if the elected boards chose to join in the service district. He said there is no 9 statutory mandate that the public hearing happen at a later time, but it would be a good policy 10 for those municipalities to have their own hearings. 11 Chair Jacobs said he does think that a lot of this information is based on opinion, and it 12 is useful but might not be applicable. He has concerns about all of the exempt properties. He 13 said he has lobbied that people with long driveways be allowed to use bins, and he is 14 concerned about the possible surplus of roll carts. 15 Gayle Wilson said an assessment would be done prior to each phase and necessary 16 adjustments would be made. 17 Chair Jacobs said the two goals are the commitment to equity and the commitment to 18 recycling and this balance is difficult. He said even the general fund use has an equity issue if 19 roadside recycling does not provide service to all residents. He said the question is whether the 20 Board feels that it is important enough to use the general fund or service district to support 21 curbside recycling. 22 Chair Jacobs said this should proceed to a public hearing, and all of the options should 23 be put on the table. He said there should be two public hearings held in both ends of the 24 County. He said the Board can come back on Feb. 4th to determine what information should be 25 presented at these hearings. 26 Commissioner Rich said if the general fund consideration is being put on the table, the 27 Board also needs to talk with the towns about what that means for the agreement that currently 28 exists with the County. 29 Commissioner Price said she does want to move forward with the public hearing, but 30 she wants to make sure that all of the options are discussed and time is used wisely. She 31 would also like to see data on the subscription service and the costs to the department and the 32 impact on revenue. 33 Commissioner McKee said he voted against the motion the last time this was discussed. 34 He said the previous wording finished with a statement that staff would proceed with a public 35 hearing with the intent to move forward with a district tax. He said if the Board is going to have 36 a public hearing he wants all options to be laid out, with both advantages and disadvantages of 37 each. He said curbside works very well in a neighborhood style development, but it is not ideal 38 for these longer driveways. He said he will oppose this again if it is done for just the service 39 district. 40 Commissioner Pelissier said that this public hearing would have to happen if there was 41 intent to implement a tax district. She asked if this precludes having information available on 42 the implications of not doing a tax district. 43 John Roberts said no. He said a public hearing is to solicit many types of input. He said 44 the notice would have to have certain information, but additional information is not prohibited. 45 Commissioner Pelissier said she would like estimates on how much of a capacity 46 increase would be needed at the Solid Waste Convenience Centers in the event that the 47 County did not go with a tax district. 48 Chair Jacobs said a few words can be added to the recommended motion tonight to 49 bring everyone into agreement.