Orange County NC Website
32 <br /> 1 increase of 3.77 cents. <br /> 2 <br /> 3 4. Increase the Solid Waste Convenience Center fees to cover all or part of the <br /> 4 $1,856,543 transfer from the General Fund to Solid Waste to fund Convenience <br /> 5 Center Operations. <br /> 6 (See fee table in abstract) <br /> 7 <br /> 8 Michael Talbert said there are $18 million in funds available in solid waste. He said <br /> 9 much of this money is reserved for specific purposes, but there is $3,082,630 of unrestricted <br /> 10 reserve fund balance. <br /> 11 He said option 2 would fund both rural and urban programs and would take 2/3 of the <br /> 12 unrestricted reserves. He said this was in response to an equity issue with the towns, so there <br /> 13 would be no fee for either one. <br /> 14 Michael Talbert referred to the table of convenience center fees. He said the current <br /> 15 fees are: $40 for rural; $20 for urban; $4 for multi-family. He said there are four scenarios that <br /> 16 raise this from 33 percent of the $1.8 million to 50 percent, to 2/3, and up to 100 percent of the <br /> 17 $1.8 million. He said if all of the fees were done in one year to raise the full amount of$1.8 <br /> 18 million the rural fee would go from $40 to $102; the urban would go from $20 to $51; and the <br /> 19 multi-family would go from $4 to $10. <br /> 20 Michael Talbert said the manager's recommendation is option 1 as a way to move <br /> 21 forward with minimal damage to the unrestricted reserves, while giving the proposed workgroup <br /> 22 one year to work on this. <br /> 23 Commissioner Gordon said the $728,260 amount for recycling used to be $630,000. <br /> 24 She asked what caused it to go up. <br /> 25 Gayle Wilson said about a year ago the budget number was estimated. He said the <br /> 26 costs were then gathered for the roll carts and recycling trucks prior to the budget being <br /> 27 prepared after the first of the year. He said these firm cost figures caused the number to evolve <br /> 28 from $630,000 to the current number. He said the debt service annual payment also increased <br /> 29 when the term was reduced from 10 to 5 years. He said the County started running a small <br /> 30 deficit in the rural program about 3 years ago that was not resolved prior to the 3-R program <br /> 31 ending. He said the new budget number came to light during the public hearing and discussion <br /> 32 process, and staff did not want to switch the number in the midst of that discussion. He said <br /> 33 the $728,000 is a firm budget number. <br /> 34 Commissioner Gordon asked how many customers and roll carts are included in this <br /> 35 budget number. <br /> 36 Gayle Wilson said this number includes the 7000 roll carts and the ability to service the <br /> 37 expanded service area. He said the cost to serve the 13,700 is the same as the expanded <br /> 38 service because it uses the same staffing and equipment. <br /> 39 Commissioner Gordon said she thought there was going to be a survey prior to the <br /> 40 purchase of the roll carts. <br /> 41 Gayle Wilson said once the urban program is implemented and if the Board approves <br /> 42 the roll carts, staff will do outreach in the service area to determine who wants to use bins and <br /> 43 who wants to use roll carts. <br /> 44 Commissioner Gordon clarified that roll carts will not be purchased until this number is <br /> 45 determined. <br /> 46 Gayle Wilson said roll carts will not be purchased until there is a good idea of how many <br /> 47 are needed. <br /> 48 Commissioner Gordon asked if the $728,000 is an upper number. <br /> 49 Gayle Wilson said this number includes the 7000 roll carts and the ability to service the <br /> 50 expanded 1,500 households. <br />