Agenda - 05-08-2014 - 7f - Laserfiche WebLink

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27 Not related to recycling, the County also assesses a county -wide Solid Waste Convenience Center Fee that is billed in conjunction with the annual property tax. The Unincorporated Areas Fee is ($20 /year /Household), Incorporated Areas Fee is ($10 /year /Household), and 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 says 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'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 will recommend that the Board of County Commissioners cease assessing the Urban, Rural and Multi- family recycling fees beginning with the Fiscal 2013/14 Annual Budget. The County Manager further recommends funding these services for Fiscal 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. A rural curbside recycling fee is charged to those households where recycling services are made available. These services are provided by County Solid Waste staff. Just 6,000 households lack access to rural curbside service at this time and are not charged the Rural Curbside Fee. 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 fee is charged to Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough municipal residents by the County for urban curbside recycling services. 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 Fee is charged to each multi - family establishment in both incorporated and unincorporated Orange County based on the number of residential units for collection of recyclable materials at each of these locations. 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 instructed staff to repurpose the public hearing scheduled for April 23, 2013 to take 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. Listed below are the (3) options identified by the Board: 1. County -Wide Solid Waste Management Authority Eliminate all 3 -R Fees & Create a County -Wide Solid Waste Management Authority. North Carolina General Statute's 153A -421 (Attachment 1) outlines how two or more units of local government may create a regional solid waste management authority by adopting substantially identical resolutions to that effect in accordance with the provisions of this Article. The