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~~ <br />Page 3 <br />March 23, 2004 <br />officers and employees for performing services or duties <br />permitted or required by law,..," Providing waste reduction, <br />reuse and recycling services for recovered material and <br />household hazardous waste are both services counties are either <br />permitted to provide or required by law to provide, Therefore, <br />in my opinion, the County has the power to charge WRRR fees. The <br />division of the fee into the four categories as recommended by <br />the County staff establishes a WRRR fee system that is both <br />reasonable and related to the services provided by Orange County <br />to the improved property in the County and the cities and towns <br />in the County whose owners receive and have the applicable <br />services available to them. Part of Chapel Hi11 is located in <br />Durham County. Since the WR,RR services covered by the fees <br />recommended by staff are provided to all of Chapel Hill, it is <br />my opinion that those properties can be made subject to the same <br />fees as other properties receiving the same services in the rest <br />of Chapel Hill. <br />Since the WRRR fees are not solid waste collection, <br />disposal or availability fees they are not covered by N.C. Gen, <br />Stat. § 153A-293, That statute authorizes a county to adopt an <br />ordinance providing that a solid waste related fee may be made <br />payable in the same manner as property taxes and, in the case of <br />non payment collected in any manner by which delinquent personal <br />or' real property taxes can be collected, Therefore, collection <br />of unpaid/delinquent WRRR fees will have to be accomplished by <br />using other remedies. The staff has projected an 88o collection <br />rate for these fees for that reason rather than the over 98°s <br />collection rate which is typical for property taxes in Orange <br />County. <br />The Board of Commissioners may want to consider, either in <br />the near term or the longer term, seeking legislation that would <br />provide that any fee authorized by and imposed pursuant to N..C. <br />Gen, Stat, § 153A-102 can be collected in the same manner that <br />solid waste related fees can be collected, <br />The WRRR fees, if approved by the Board of Commissioners, <br />should be established and maintained annually with the adoption <br />by the Board of the Orange County Budget Ordinance, <br />