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31 <br />Page 4 <br />February 7, 2003 <br />after determining that the Prince William County model was not a <br />practical solution to New Hanover County's solid waste financing <br />concerns. <br />III. Fees for Service. <br />North Carolina law enables counties to charge collection., <br />disposal and availability fees to finance solid waste <br />enterprises. Solid waste collection fees are outside of the <br />scope of the County's responsibility under the Agreement and are <br />not discussed further. The County can impose a fee for the use <br />of disposal facilities provided by the County. This fee may not <br />exceed the cost of operating the facility and may be imposed <br />only on those who use the facility. The fee can vary based on <br />the amount, characteristics and form of recyclable materials <br />present in solid waste. This fee is essentially a user fee not <br />applicable to persons not using the County's solid waste system. <br />The Board of Commissioners may also impose a fee for the <br />availability of a disposal facility provided by the County. This <br />fee may not exceed the cost of providing the facility. This fee <br />is not directly a user fee. Rather it is imposed on improved <br />property in the County that benefits from the availability of <br />the facility, This fee may not be imposed on property whose <br />solid waste is collected by a city or a private contractor for' a <br />fee if the fee imposed by the city or the private contractor for <br />the collection includes a charge for the availability and use of <br />a disposal facility provided by the County. Furthermore, <br />property served by a private contractor who disposes of solid <br />waste collected from the property in a disposal facility <br />provided by the private contractor is not considered to benefit <br />from a disposal facility provided by the County and is not <br />subject to a fee imposed by the County for the availability of a <br />disposal facility provided by the County. <br />Summarizing, an availability fee could be charged to <br />everyone in Orange County whose solid waste is not collected by <br />a private contractor delivering the materials to a disposal <br />facility provided by that private contractor. And, if the <br />availability fee were to be applicable in the Towns of Chapel <br />Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough, the fees charged by Orange <br />County for delivery of solid waste to the County landfill would <br />have to be adjusted to eliminate the cost of the availability of <br />