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Minutes - Regular Meeting <br /> Solid Waste Advisory Board <br /> January 9 , 2003 <br /> Approved February 13, 2003 <br /> Gist states that before this gets out to the public we should have an official statement <br /> of what we are doing for the press so that they don' t get confused . <br /> Sassaman states we have spent a lot of time over the last few months to make sure <br /> that we not only educate the public, but the municipalities as well, and have worked <br /> to get their input. We have sort of come to the consensus that our main role is to <br /> come up with a plan and suggestions and then let the Commissioners go from there <br /> and deal with the public and the municipalities . Individually we need to be <br /> educating our government officials for the [jurisdictions] that we represent . <br /> 3 . Continuation of discussion of non-residential funding scenarios and customer <br /> group impacts . Wilson summarizes the options considered : a district tax --property <br /> tax based assessment, fee option not based on property value but on the type of <br /> services you might receive, third option a mix of the two where a part of the short <br /> fall would be funded by taxes and another part based on fees . We had a <br /> presentation from Tom Smith of Prince William County last month that introduced a <br /> possible new option — a fee that included pre-paying for disposal . The benefit of <br /> that is it renders the flow control issue moot . The availability fee in the residential <br /> sector is fairly straightforward . In the commercial sector it' s rather complicated in <br /> order to properly set the fee based on the wide variety types of business . <br /> One of the things we are working against if the time line . The budget, which starts <br /> July 1 , 2003, is facing a significant deficit. Whatever option is the ultimate result as <br /> the mechanism for financing has to be ready and in place by July 1 . With the <br /> availability fee it is likely that we will need an interim financing prior to <br /> implementing the final financing . <br /> Norwood asks would it be possible to implement the availability fee for that year for <br /> residential [only] to have that money coming in . <br /> Wilson states that it is possible but residents may not take kindly to the fact they are <br /> paying the fee but the commercial sector isri t . <br /> Pollock states that only a small segment of the commercial sector is receiving <br /> recycling services, so to start collecting [umversal commercial] availability fees now <br /> is to ramp up and not take the huge hit three years from now . Politically there is a <br /> way to talk about it that' s not too painful . <br /> 3 <br />