Item 1 - Agenda 05-05-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 3 March 23, 2004 officers and employees for performing services or duties permitted or required by law...." Providing waste reduction, reuse and recycling services for recovered material and household hazardous waste are both services counties are either permitted to provide or required.by law to provide. Therefore, in my opinion, the County has the power to charge WRRR fees. The division of the fee into the four categories as recommended.by the County staff establishes a WRRR fee. system that is both reasonable and related to the services provided by Orange County to the improved property in the County and the cities and towns in the County whose owners receive and have the applicable services available to them. Part of Chapel Hill is located in Durham County. Since the WRRR services covered by the fees recommended by staff are provided to all of Chapel Hill, it is my opinion that those properties can be made subject to the same fees as other properties receiving the same services in the rest of Chapel Hill. Since the WRRR fees are not solid waste collection, disposal or availability fees they are not covered by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 153A -293. That statute authorizes a county to adopt an ordinance providing that a solid waste related fee may be made payable in the same manner as property taxes and, in the case of non payment collected in any manner by which delinquent personal or real property taxes can be collected. Therefore,' collection of unpaid /delinquent WRRR fees will have to be accomplished by using other remedies. The staff has projected an 88o collection rate for these fees for that reason rather than the over 980 collection rate which is typical for property taxes in Orange County. The Board of Commissioners may want to consider, either in the near term or the longer term, seeking legislation that would provide that any fee authorized by and imposed pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. 153A -102 can be collected in the same manner that solid waste related fees can be collected. The WRRR fees, if approved by the Board of Commissioners, should be established and maintained annually with the adoption by the Board of the Orange County Budget Ordinance.