Agenda - 09-30-2003-7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment D Memorandum To: Board of Orange County Commissioners From: Jan Sassaman, Chair Solid Waste Advisory Board Subject: Financing Recommendation for Solid Waste Management Date: March 26, 2003 At its March 13 meeting, the Solid Waste Advisory Board addressed the request of the County Manager to make a recommendation on interim financing necessary to support the Solid Waste enterprise fund during development of the administrative programs necessary prior to full implementation of the comprehensive prepaid solid waste services fee recommended by the SWAB February 24. The interim financing mechanisms recommended herein are fee -based and are consistent with the nature and intent of the long -term comprehensive prepaid waste services fee. We recommend they be implemented over the next three years beginning in 2003 -04 with a residential services fee and culminating in adoption of the recommended comprehensive prepaid solid waste services fee beginning in 2005 -06. The SWAB feels strongly that sufficient financial support for future waste reduction efforts is necessary to meet the County's 61 percent per capita waste reduction goal and the high level of service Orange County residents presently enjoy. The recommended mechanism would provide that support in a creative, flexible, workable, and equitable manner. The SWAB reached the following conclusions in making its recommendations on financing as well as this interim financing: 1. The Solid Waste Management Department enterprise fund has reached the point where it will operate at a deficit beginning in FY 2003 -04 without additional sources of funds. 2. The alternative of eliminating or reducing the scope of existing recycling programs to make up the deficit is not recommended, as this would not help the County in meeting its waste reduction goals. 3. The Solid Waste Advisory Board has been working on the issue of alternative financing for more than a year, and in its February 24 report, made a recommendation to the BOCC on long -term financing based on a comprehensive prepaid solid waste services fee. That proposed fee encompasses not only recycling costs but also a prepaid disposal fee that would supplant the present tipping fee and the anticipated future waste transfer fees once the present landfill Eubanks Road is closed.