Orange County NC Website
Orange County, NC <br />Financial Plan and Rate Study for Solid Waste Enterprise Fund <br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />In March 2016, Orange County, North Carolina (County) retained SCS Engineers (SCS) to <br />conduct a solid waste cost of services and rate study (Study) and to develop a Financial Plan for <br />the County's Solid Waste System (System). Based on data and information provided by County <br />staff, a Pro Forma rate model (Rate Model) was developed, which enabled SCS to prepare <br />projections of financial performance of solid waste and recyclable material collection and <br />disposal for the selected planning period (FY 2016 -17 through FY 2020 -21) and model different <br />possible rate structures. <br />PROJECT OBJECTIVES <br />The overall objective of a cost of service and rate study is to calculate the solid waste fees and <br />assessments required to adequately recover the costs of providing solid waste and recycling <br />services to the County's residents, businesses, and other institutions. Based on its solid waste <br />industry experience, SCS developed a series of critical tasks that provided a foundation for the <br />conduct of the Study and development of the Financial Plan. This methodology is discussed in <br />Section 2 of this report. <br />Enterprise Fund <br />The County has established the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund (Fund) to account for all Solid <br />Waste Management Department (Department) solid waste and recycling program operations, <br />which are financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises. The Fund <br />includes potential revenue from approximately 33 distinct sources (line items under the Budget <br />Accounts), which can be associated with one or more of the four cost centers (Divisions) within <br />the Department. The Fund includes potential expenses from approximately 47 distinct general <br />sources (line items under the Budget Accounts) and five capital sources from five accounts, <br />which can be associated with one or more of the Divisions within the Department. <br />The Solid Waste Program Fee is a single, county -wide fee assessed on each improved property <br />within the County, including the municipalities and the portion of the Town of Chapel Hill <br />located within Durham County. The current fee is $107.00 per parcel annually, but is adjusted <br />annually as part of the Department's budgeting process based on estimated system expenditures, <br />minus all revenue, and divided by the number of taxable parcels. <br />The table below (and also in Section 2.1.3, Exhibit 11) below shows the distribution of the <br />Department's revenues and expenses for the past four fiscal years and the budget for current FY <br />2016 -17 by division. As shown, annual expenses have increased from the previous to the current <br />fiscal year with the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund running a net deficit in <br />The table also shows the amount and percentage of the revenues over the past 4 years that were <br />made up of transfers from the General Fund and Appropriated Fund Balance. The final row of <br />the exhibit shows the additional net revenues and deficits added to the amount transferred from <br />the General Fund. <br />ES -1 <br />