Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990 TAG: 9004240089
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
But county residents living outside of town won't be charged another dime - and Blacksburg officials say that's not fair.
"It's unjust that non-town residents are not required to pay tipping fees," said Councilman Lewis Barnett at a recent work session.
"Taxes should be equitable," Councilman Al Leighton agreed.
Council will consider a resolution at tonight's meeting in which the town will object to the unfairness of the county's proposed tipping fee.
Town Manager Ron Secrist, being cautious about the wording of the resolution, said the county has not yet revealed how it plans to finance the landfill operations.
"The procedure has not been set up, so it's not a simple question," he said. "How is the county's green box program . . . going to be assessed a tipping fee? There lies the potential for unfairness."
The county will charge $15 per ton of trash dumped in its landfill to offset costs of complying with stringent new state environmental regulations. The fee is projected to jump to $29 over the next four years.
Blacksburg will have to pay $53,000 next year to dump garbage from its residential customers in the landfill, Secrist said. Businesses and apartment dwellers, whose trash is handled by private haulers, will probably also see increases in their garbage bills.
If council adopts the proposed 1990-91 budget, scheduled for April 30, residents would start picking up the tab on their garbage bills.
Christiansburg Town Manager John Lemley estimates his town will have to pay $150,000 next year to dump 10,000 tons of trash.
He did not know how much each resident would be charged, although it would be included in the town's proposed budget, scheduled for release in mid-May.
The Christiansburg Town Council has not taken a formal stand on the county's tipping fee, Lemley said, although some have said publicly it amounts to double taxation.
Supervisor Todd Solberg, asked how non-town residents would help pay the new tipping fee, said, "It's a bookkeeping operation."
County residents living outside the towns pay a county utility tax, which town residents are not charged. That money - about $685,000 a year - goes into the county's general fund.
Residents of both towns also contribute to the general fund through real estate and property taxes and share in the costs of maintaining the landfill.
This year, Montgomery County will set up a separate account strictly for solid waste disposal, which will handle capital improvements and maintenance of the landfill.
County Administrator Betty Thomas said that almost $200,000 of the county utility taxes will go straight into that separate account to cover non-town residents' tipping fee.
However, the utility tax for those residents will not increase this year, she said.
Solberg said the 5-cent increase in real estate tax next year, which Montgomery County approved, would help make up the loss of that $200,000 in the general fund.
Blacksburg's resolution states that although the town does not object to some "reasonable tipping fee being imposed," it should be part of a comprehensive solid waste program with full participation of the towns.
Secrist said charging the fee without setting up a recycling program could easily lead to illegal dumping and abuse of the county's green box collection system.
But Solberg said the tipping fee will encourage citizens to recycle - as well as help pay the increasing costs of operating the landfill and meeting state mandates.
"Right now, this is the most equitable thing," Solberg said. "No matter what the towns think or anybody thinks, the future holds tipping fees for us."
by CNB