Solid Waste Tax District Public Hearing tonight 4/1/14 in Hillsborough.
I attended the public hearing on 3/18. Here are my observations based upon what others have said.
1. The main problem is that the county had a good funding system which has been called into question. Many speakers supported the fee system and feared that a tax district would cost them more.
2. People with open land, forest or agricultural land should be using the Present Use Value Program ( and other conservation incentives) so their tax valuation should not be high. The majority of people should pay less in tax than in the old fee since only a relative few have higher assessed properties.
3. Some people described the problem of very long private roads. How many of these type of properties are actually in the proposed tax district? Aren’t the majority of homes more suburban like?
4. There are definitely some individuals who will recyle without curb side service but it is clear to me that curb side service will increase the amount of recycling in the entire community.
5. A number of people spoke about alternatives. I do not see over the short term how any of the other alternatives can be implemented.
For a while there was fear that the municipalities and University would handle recycling independently. Thankfully all parties are now working together. The towns and university can continue their fee system for recycling but the county fee for rural curb side recycling has been called into question. The solid waste tax district would cover only part of the county. The most rural areas of the county and the municipalities would be excluded. The tax rate would be designed to generate about $35/ $250000 property (similar to the current fee of $38) Because it is taxed per value, many people would pay less and some would pay more.
So far at the two candidate forums for county commissioners, canditated have discussed the need to revisit how to handle solid waste (disposal, recyling, reduction etc.) Unless the county decides to reimpliment the rural fee or create the new tax district, our rural recycling program will suffer.
Loren
Issues:
