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Page 5 `® <br />February 7, 2003 <br />the disposal facility. That is, if the County intends to <br />continue its tipping fee while imposing an availability fee, the <br />services covered by the availability fee even though charged to <br />the landowners in Orange County, would have to be "backed -out" <br />of the tipping and other fees now charged to the towns. <br />The statute authorizing local governments in North Carolina <br />to charge fees for solid waste is, at least in part, responsive <br />to federal flow control requirements created by the federal <br />courts which requirements are premised on Congress's ability to <br />control commerce. Flow control principles generally do not <br />become a problem under the North Carolina solid waste fee system <br />because the statutory limits on fee - setting mirror, or at least <br />capture the sense of, flow control. A fee system has at least. <br />one advantage over a tax system in that the fees are charged to <br />the persons using the County solid waste system, even where the <br />property where the solid waste is generated is not taxable. A <br />fee system may also please the towns in Orange County because it <br />would almost certainly result in a reduction to tip fees. <br />Solid waste fees would be established by County ordinance <br />and, may be billed with property taxes; may be payable in the <br />same manner as property taxes; and, in the case of non - payment <br />may be collected in any manner by which delinquent personal or <br />real property taxes can be collected. All of these features of a <br />fee system would be set out in the ordinance which creates the <br />fee. The ordinance would further make clear that delinquent fees <br />are a lien on the real property described on the tax bill that <br />includes the fee. Therefore, fee collection rates should be <br />comparable to ad valorem tax collection rates. <br />Fees under North Carolina's solid waste fee system,. without <br />franchising being a part of that system, will only stop Orange <br />County solid waste from leaving Orange County if they are <br />competitive with the private sector, however. And, unlike <br />property taxes, fees are not deductible for federal and State <br />income tax purposes. <br />IV. County Solid Waste Service Districts. <br />Service districts are a viable option for Orange County and <br />create only a tax boundary with all of the governmental <br />