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39 <br /> Orange County, NC <br /> Financial Plan & Rate Study for Solid Waste Enterprise Fund SCS ENGINEERS <br /> 5.2 EXPENSE REDUCTION STRATEGIES <br /> SCS performed a cursory overview of Department programs to identify opportunities to reduce <br /> expenses in order to reduce the quantity of General Fund monies to Enterprise Fund. Expense <br /> reduction strategies identified include: <br /> • Commercial curbside collection and residential drop-off collection of food and other <br /> organic wastes currently cost the Department$80 per ton under its contract with <br /> Brooks Contracting. The Department could encourage residents to compost at home <br /> to reduce expenditure by the Department and keep the waste closer to its point of <br /> origin for direct reuse. Alternatively, the County could shift the costs of the program <br /> to its largest benefiters, business entities. <br /> • Reduce debt servicing costs by continuing to contribute to an equipment reserve fund <br /> with which replacement equipment is purchased outright. Consider implementation of <br /> an R&E fund as a long-term objective to pay for unexpected costs outright, rather <br /> than relying on debt financing. <br /> • Consider altering Waste and Recycling Center hours or days of operations to <br /> minimize down-time and reduce staff/maintenance costs per customer served. <br /> • Establish a long-term financial plan that provides a sustainable financial structure for <br /> the Fund. This plan should be formed as a result of a continued evaluation of <br /> Department programs to identify issues and inefficiencies (if any exist), optimize the <br /> structure of the Department, and find opportunities to further share resources among <br /> the four Divisions, in addition to other tasks to increase the effectiveness of the <br /> implementation of solid waste and recycling services. <br /> 5.3 RATE BENCHMARKING <br /> Exhibit 19 graphically illustrates a comparison of the County's FY 2015-16 Program Fee of$107 <br /> with other North Carolina Counties' cumulative Solid Waste Fee rates. As shown, the annual <br /> solid waste fees for various municipalities range from a low of$15 to approximately$250. It is <br /> unclear what governmental subsidies exist for the communities with the lower fees or what <br /> services are provided for the corresponding fees. It is also important to consider the level of <br /> service offered by Orange County and the emphasis on environmental justice in regards to waste <br /> reduction and recycling, including the achievement of a 64 percent recycling rate. It is not likely <br /> to be matched by many, if any, of these jurisdictions. <br /> Benchmarking of solid waste agencies is often difficult to accomplish since levels of service and <br /> internal charges and subsidies are often difficult to discern from one municipal system to <br /> another. As such, most benchmarking programs often deal with individual facilities (e.g., <br /> landfills, transfer stations, etc.). There is currently a lack of benchmarking data available in the <br /> solid waste industry. SWANA has conducted the most recent benchmarking studies, but these <br /> were focused on landfill operations. <br /> 29 <br />