Agenda - 05-08-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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6 1 restoration of hours at the convenience centers. She supports recycling in Orange County, but 2 she asked the Board not to charge those residents that will never use this service. 3 Anita (Sue) Kinzer said there are a lot of residents who are retired and appreciate the 4 curbside service, but the potential cost is a concern. 5 Marsha Efland said she lives on Brookhollow Road in Elfand, and she is supportive of 6 recycling but not of this proposed program. She said she is opposed to this tax because it taxes 7 each parcel of land, regardless of whether there is a residence on the parcel or not. She said 8 this is not similar to the fire tax, as the fire service can be utilized on each parcel of land that a 9 person owns, but the recycling cannot be used. She strongly urged the Board to consider other 10 options rather than the district tax. 11 Ralph Teal said he lives on Stoneridge Drive in Chapel Hill. He said he recycles, and he 12 is opposed to a one-size-fits-all tax. He said the previous fee was fine and the system should 13 go back to something like this, or a tiered system that allows residents to pay based on what 14 residents use. He agreed with the points made about vacant land, and he said this is just 15 another form of tax increase. 16 James Lea lives on Mill Creek Road and is a member of the Orange County Planning 17 Board. He is here to oppose this proposed tax. He said he supports recycling and waste 18 reduction, but it should not be done on the backs of citizens. He said he is less than a mile 19 from his solid waste convenience center. He said this is a great center, and he sees no need to 20 add a curbside service in addition to what the residents already have in the rural part of the 21 County. He said he sees no reason to tax residents for something that is already being offered. 22 He asked the Board of Commissioners to offer an opt-out option for residents in the northern 23 part of rural Orange County. 24 Hillel Koren said he would like to withdraw his comment. 25 Peter Thorn said he lives on Butler Road, and he is generally in favor of government 26 doing things for others that they cannot do for themselves; however he cannot support this 27 proposed plan. He said he and his neighbors are avid recyclers, and they are better off without 28 this new tax. He said this will only increase cost, and it will not comprehensively gather all trash 29 and recycling together. He does not know how many households in the proposed district pay 30 for a private solid waste collection service. He agreed with the other speakers who said the 31 best way to improve recycling services is to open up the convenience centers for more days 32 and hours. 33 Rob Taylor said he is surprised that Orange County is in this place. He said there are 34 several counties in North Carolina that are less progressive, less interested in recycling and 35 less thoughtful about public service, and these counties somehow manage to offer a 36 countywide curbside recycling program. He listed several of these counties. He said if the goal 37 is to divert material from disposal, then the opt-out service has proven to be a barrier to 38 participation. He said the most successful programs in the state make the service available 39 automatically and provide service to every household with a bin or cart. He said he 40 understands that the idea of a new fee is unpleasant, and many people are feeling the pinch. 41 He said the taxpayers are paying to send waste away for disposal, and this cost will be higher if 42 less people use curbside recycling. He said if the tax service cannot be created, he would like 43 the Board to explore ways to make the subscription service more likely to be used, such as pay 44 as you throw and incentivized rates. He asked the Board not to take any action that would roll 45 back recycling in Orange County. 46 Lynne Jaffe said she has been recycling for years and all of the residents are here 47 tonight in service to Orange County. She said it is sad that there is a divide in the room tonight. 48 She is a widow living on a fixed income, and she is grateful for the curbside service, but she 49 only uses it every 6 weeks. She said this new proposal would charge her multiple times more 50 than what she is being charged now, because she owns a lot of undeveloped land. She said