PRESCOTT – It’s official, residents of Nevada County will be required to pay to have their trash picked up.
This decision was made in a special called meeting of the Nevada County Quorum Court Thursday night. It turns out the vote to impose a garbage fee in December was null and void because the County Judge doesn’t have the authority to cast the tiebreaking ballot. Only eight members of the court were at the table for the vote in December, which resulted in a 4-4 deadlock. Nevada County Judge Mark Glass voted in favor of the fee to break the tie.
This means most of Tuesday’s two-hour marathon meeting and its discussion on trash fees was moot as the December vote was irrelevant.
Thursday’s meeting didn’t show any improvement, though the measure passed 6-2 with Brenda Stockton and Chris Fore casting the lone votes against the ordinance. Now, county residents will be charged $100 per year to have their trash picked up.
Justice of the Peace Bob Cummings got things started talking about the increased cost of having the trash picked up by the Upper Southwest Solid Waste Management Agency in Nashville. The fee went up $50 on Jan. 1, 2020, and will go up another $50 on Jan. 1, 2021. This means Nevada County will be charged $200 per trip.
There is also a Class IV box that has been taken to the landfill in Nashville. However, it’s recently been learned the refuse in this box can be put in the county’s landfill, which will save roughly $4,800 a year. The county also has a one-cent sales tax in effect. With the exception of Prescott and Emmet, municipalities in the county return their portion to the county to have their trash picked up. Prescott and Emmet pick up the garbage of their residents.
At Tuesday’s meeting it was announced the county’s garbage trucks make more than 1,800 stops per week. Cummings said the question was what to do about churches, deer camps and businesses when it comes to the trash fees. He also said, for the first time in the current discussion, the county’s landfill needs to replace its compactor and bulldozer as both are on their last legs. He also pointed out the Road and Bridge Department has had to pick up the cost of fuel for the Solid Waste Department.
According to figures from Susie Key, Nevada County Treasurer, the Solid Waste Department began the year with $45,466.40, and 17 days into the month only has $16,477.01 in its budget.
Glass told the court a new compactor would cost between $150,000 and $175,000.
The problem, Cummings said, is even after increasing the department’s budget from 2018 to 2019, it wasn’t enough as people are generating more and more trash.
JP Pat Grimes said the county has 626 miles of county roads, some in bad shape and this results in costing more for fuel and increased wear and tear on the trucks.
JP Chris Fore said he ran figures of 100 loads per month for 260 days and this came up to be $52,000, far less than the proposed $100 a year fee would generate. When it was pointed out the county only has around 50 loads a month, these figures were cut in half, but the amount generated by the fee remained at $184,000 a year. Fore said just to cover the cost of transportation, $30 a year is all that would be needed.
Grimes pointed out there had been no discussion about the compactor until recently. Fore agreed, asking why this issue wasn’t discussed during the budget meetings. He got no answer.
Cummings voiced his opinion, saying he’d rather have to reduce the fees later than go up again in the future. Fore argued the fees would never be reduced because the money would be spent somewhere else.
“This isn’t the way to do it,” Fore said. “It’s not right. I don’t know what the answer is.” He added there are residents in the county who don’t use the trash service. He also said the county has always managed to find the money for what it wants in the past, naming the purchase of a road grader that wasn’t budgeted and suggested the same could be done with the trash issue.
Glass said there isn’t enough in the budget anymore. It was pointed out 20 years ago there were 14,000 people in Nevada County, but this number has dwindled to roughly 8,000 now, which means there is less tax money being generated. Glass reminded the court the $150 trip fee doesn’t include the $30 per ton tipping fee the county pays the landfill.
JP Dennis Pruitt spoke up saying these tipping fees haven’t been brought up before and more figuring needs to be done. Glass said the tipping fees are included in the budget.
Donnie McGuire suggested the county start its own Class I landfill, saying the initial costs will be big, but it would save money in the long term.
Discussion veered to the county’s Class IV landfill. The court was informed there’s only room for nine more cells in the landfill, which should last roughly 10 years. After this, the county will need more land and this will be an issue with the landowners in the area.
Eventually, a motion was made to have the proposed ordinance read. Nevada County Clerk Julie Oliver didn’t want to read the 10-page document until it was pointed out the law required it. When all was said and done, the ordinance was amended to remove the 2 percent late fees and all service charges. It was passed 6-2 with Fore and Stockton voting against it. Those voting for it were: Cummings, Herbert Coleman, Kenneth Bailey, Curtis Lee Johnson, Pruitt and Grimes.