County Commissioners back off plan for unpopular $200 parcel fee for solid waste

Facing backlash from the community, a majority of Transylvania County Commissioners agree to scrap the fee in favor of a combination of tax and user fee increases to fill solid waste budget gap.

By Dan DeWitt

BREVARD — Faced with residents’ objections to a planned $200 solid waste fee on improved parcels, the Transylvania County Commission on Monday settled on an alternative that three of them found slightly less objectionable: a combination of increased user fees and an 1.8-cent increase in the county property tax.

Under the new proposal, the per-bag fee charged at convenience sites would climb from $1.50 to $3, the tipping fee from $60 to $62 per ton and the minimum charge for dumping at the county landfill from $5 to $15 dollars.

Along with the new tax, the fee increases are expected to cover what would otherwise be a $1.7 million shortfall in next fiscal year’s $4.1 million Solid Waste Department budget.

The existing fee structure has been inadequate for years, County Manager Jaime Laughter has told commissioners, but the gap was expected to grow dramatically in the coming fiscal year because of $663,000 in permitting and engineering costs associated with the expansion of the landfill.

Last month three commissioners — David Guice, Teresa McCall and Commission Chair Jason Chappell — agreed to charge the unpopular $200 solid waste fee on each parcel of improved land.

Laughter developed the new option, she said at Monday’s meeting, because “we have heard a lot from the public, and we have heard through commissioners who are also talking to members of the public, that they would like to see changes in that model.”

The same three commissioners agreed to the new structure, with the prevailing argument being that the parcel fee — applied equally to improved properties of all values — would have placed too much burden on older and financially struggling residents.

“One thing I can’t support now is the flat $200 fee. When you look at how that’s going to impact the average citizen, that's just a hard pill to swallow,” Guice said.

Not factoring in the fee increases, the hit to most households would be considerably softened under the new plan, Guice said. The averaged assessed value of improved residential parcels in the county is about $330,000, said Finance Director Jonathan Griffin, and a 1.8-cent levy on that amount comes to slightly less than $60 per year. 

The proposal will not be finalized until a formal vote is held at next week’s meeting.

Commissioners Larry Chapman and Jake Dalton said they could not support the new fee-and-tax-increase proposal, using the same language they did in last month’s budget workshops.

Chapman favored spreading the cost increases over two years rather than “eating the elephant” immediately. Dalton remained the only commissioner who favored closing the county’s three collection centers, which would save money and reduce, but not eliminate, a needed parcel fee or tax increase.

“I’m still living on that island,” he said Monday.

When introducing the new option, Laughter said she and county staffers did not recommend it, listing concerns that come with asking collection-center attendants to handle large sums of money and the risk that the increased bag fee might prompt more illegal dumping.

Though the tipping fee would remain competitive with most nearby counties, it could result in lower volumes of trash taken in by the landfill and lower revenue, she said. And the tax would be applied to property, including vacant land and cars, that have no role in producing trash. Unlike the $200 parcel fee, the property tax increase would apply to Brevard and Rosman residents who already pay collection fees.

Funding the department with a tax increase would  also limit the county’s ability to fund future solid waste improvements by issuing bonds, Laughter said.

One downside of the parcel fee plan was that eliminating the bag fee also eliminated an incentive to recycle. But the main one, said commissioners who favored abandoning the fee, was its burden on struggling residents.

“I know there are folks in our community who are hurting right now,” McCall said. “Any way we can minimize the impact and still provide the services our citizens want and need is a good way to go.”