Minutes 05-13-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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by July 1St for the 2014-15 budget as related to rural curbside funding. He said the current budget has the rural curbside program continuing as is, and being paid for with solid waste reserves. Commissioner Gordon said that there has been past discussion regarding the fact that only 25 percent of the budget for the solid waste convenience centers (SWCC) is actually covered by the fees. She said that the general fund contribution going in to SWCC was $1,856,543. She said the rural fee would have to be raised from $40 to $102; the urban fee would have to be raised from $20 to $51; and the multi-family fee would have to be raised from $4 to $10 in order to get rid of the general fund contribution. She asked if fees would need to be raised even more to get from 25 percent to 100 percent funding of the convenience centers. Michael Talbert said his understanding is that those fees would get them to 100 percent and would replace the $1.8 million. Gayle Wilson said that is correct. He said this is their calculation of what would eliminate the general fund contribution for the SWCC. Commissioner Gordon asked if this also funds the 24 hour sites. Gayle Wilson said the SWCC fund only funds the staffed SWCC. He said the base 3- R fee funds the 24 hour centers. Commissioner Gordon asked if the funding would have to be higher than the general fund contribution in order to raise the funding from 25 percent to 100 percent and have the SWCC pay for themselves without any other revenue. Gayle Wilson said the general fund contribution makes up for the shortfall from the existing rates and other miscellaneous revenues. He said the $1.8 million would complete 100 percent funding for the SWCC, including the Walnut Grove and Eubanks Road modernizations; but it would not include any further modernizations. Commissioner Gordon said the parts of the budget interact, and if you pull the SWCC out of the solid waste fund as a whole, it would mean the fees would have to be even bigger because there is other miscellaneous income. Gayle Wilson said there are ways where the fees would have to be larger. He said the facility operations and staffing are funded through the SWCC fee; however the trucks and the drivers that come to serve the different components of recycling are paid for out of the recycling budget. Commissioner Gordon said it is possible to look only at the solid waste budget and say that a general fund contribution should not be given. She said the numbers she gave would accomplish this. Gayle Wilson said that is the only general fund money that enters the enterprise fund. Commissioner McKee said this brings up the question of why the SWCC were not fully funded by the fees from the start. Gayle Wilson said the history is that the sanitation division, which operates the convenience centers, was part of the public works department until about 6 years ago. He said when the solid waste department moved from Chapel Hill to the County it handled all solid waste except for the convenience centers; and that separate division within public works that was funded 100 percent from the general fund operated separately. He said there was a reorganization 6 years ago to consolidate all activities into the solid waste department and there was a larger general fund contribution that funded 100 percent for the first couple of years. He said the Board of Commissioners then determined that they needed to begin to establish the basics of a self funding mechanism for the sanitation division and wean it from the general fund. He said the fees were initiated at a low level with the thought of increasing it over time, but no schedule was established, and the fee has increased twice in that 6 year period.