Cabarrus Cheap Seats

18 responses so far ↓

• 1 Steve Smith // Dec 7, 2007 at 2:58 pm

  Justin

  After hearing about the new rate increase for County Trash Collecting, that might one area of city-county consoldation that we could look at. I sure wish Harrisburg would annex me so my service fees would go down. I can’t beleive that I have to pay more for services outside of the City than inside but the tax rate is not that much lower than Harrisburg and I still have to pay the fire district tax…

• 2 Bob Carruth // Dec 8, 2007 at 12:49 am

  One thing that I asked about this past year in our negotiations with Allied Waste was to treat garbage pickup like the cities do - just add as a straight service for county residents, that is paid for out of property tax, like it is in the cities. That would eliminate the cost of billing, and would be a recognition that there are now a lot more neighborhoods in the unincorporated parts of the county than there were several years ago.

  It never got much traction. I also asked to have the recycling added as an optional service that residents could choose whether or not to participate in, but it was seen as making it economically unfeasbile (sic) to do if the service was scattered throughout the county.

  Finally, I just found out a little known fact, that I will need to verify - Jan 1, 2009, it becomes illegal to discard plastic bottles in landfills. If that is indeed the case, then recycling would not have been a choice anyway come next year. Anybody heard anything about this new provision?

• 3 Thierry Wernaers // Dec 8, 2007 at 1:09 am

  House Bill 1465: This bill expands on G.S. 130A-
  309.10(f) to ban additional materials from disposal
  in landfills. Under this bill, plastic bottles will be banned, along with oil filters and wooden pallets.
  House Bill 1465 becomes effective October 1,
  2009. The full text of this bill is available online at
  http://www.p2pays.org/ref/38/37333.pdf.

• 4 Justin Thibault // Dec 8, 2007 at 8:53 pm

  Everyone - I’m not trying to warp your reality. Steve submitted this article yesterday (I’ve been away from my computer to approve) via the Be Heard! link and these comments seemed a little more appropriate here than back in the District Representation open thread

• 5 Steve Smith // Dec 9, 2007 at 11:37 am

  Bob

  Thanks for the explanation while not helping my personal problems, I understand the need for recycling but I find it hard to believe that the cost would increase this much. I’ll have to watch the County Commission Agenda more closely. Next time Allied Waste Contract comes up, I will be there to voice objection, providing, of course, the good Lord has not taken me to rest in peace.

• 6 Aaron // Dec 9, 2007 at 11:58 am

  You county folks should be happy because County Commision could’ve done the total incorporation of services like Mr. Carruth said, then, you would never know what it really costs.

  I never saw where anyone ever mandated that it was governments job to provide waste management services in the first place. When I lived in SC briefly a few years back I payed for trash service completely seperate from the local or state government. I remember it being about 12.00 per month or $144 per year with a discount for paying for 1 year in advance.

  Break it down and it’s around 4 dollars per week.

  Do a labor calculation for bagging, loading, hauling, dumping and returning to the house and, where I lived, it would have taken about 2 hours per week. Quite honestly, my time was worth more than 2 dollars per hour, so the trash service was a bargain. Not to mention fuel costs to and from the dump.

  It’s a rights versus service versus privelege debate. County funded trash services aren’t a right but since you pay for them both privately and partly through your taxes they aren’t a privelege either. The end result is that they are a service that you pay for two ways. First through the redistributionist policies and second through your own bank account. Any service will increase in price as inflation out paces growth. It’s just the reality created when governments seek to limit one’s choices… BFI or some other entity might be able to do it cheaper but, you’ll never know…

• 7 Bob Carrruth // Dec 9, 2007 at 6:06 pm

  Aaron - In a perfect world, most people would do what you stated in your comments. In fact, some counties actually have convenience sites, without curbside pickup. I hate to think of what could happen, if there was no pickup, and people were responsible for transporting their waste to a central landfill. I am sure that there would be a return of the “gully dump” throughout the county.

  Also - BFI operates under a franchise agreement, which means there is no public funding of garbage collection. If the county offered it as a service, the cost of the individual billing administration that now occurs would not be necessary, and could drive the cost down.

  This is only an issue in the unincorporated parts of the county, and is really an issue in the areas around Concord, Kannapolis, and Harrisburg, where there the concentration of residents is greater.

  The final factor in the price increase was not the recycling, but the enormous cost increase in fuel that has occurred over the past three years.

• 8 Bob Carruth // Dec 9, 2007 at 6:37 pm

  Here is the NC General Statute. Notice particularly #3 - there is no limit on the number of franchise agreements that can be approved by the county for garbage pickup, as long as they are licensed and approved. Bottom Line, if any other company wants to join the fray, they are welcome to make a proposal. Competition is always a good thing!

  153A?136. Regulation of solid wastes.

  (a) A county may by ordinance regulate the storage, collection, transportation, use, disposal, and other disposition of solid wastes. Such an ordinance may:

  (1) Regulate the activities of persons, firms, and corporations, both public and private.

  (2) Require each person wishing to commercially collect or dispose of solid wastes to secure a license from the county and prohibit any person from commercially collecting or disposing of solid wastes without a license. A fee may be charged for a license.

  (3) Grant a franchise to one or more persons for the exclusive right to commercially collect or dispose of solid wastes within all or a defined portion of the county and prohibit any other person from commercially collecting or disposing of solid wastes in that area. The board of commissioners may set the terms of any franchise, except that no franchise may be granted for a period exceeding 30 years, nor may any franchise by its terms impair the authority of the board of commissioners to regulate fees as authorized by this section.

  (4) Regulate the fees, if any, that may be charged by licensed or franchised persons for collecting or disposing of solid wastes.

  (5) Require the source separation of materials prior to collection of solid waste for disposal.

  (6) Require participation in a recycling program by requiring separation of designated materials by the owner or occupant of the property prior to disposal. An owner of recovered materials as defined by G.S. 130A?290(a)(24) retains ownership of the recovered materials until the owner conveys, sells, donates, or otherwise transfers the recovered materials to a person, firm, company, corporation, or unit of local government. A county may not require an owner to convey, sell, donate, or otherwise transfer recovered materials to the county or its designee. If an owner places recovered materials in receptacles or delivers recovered materials to specific locations, receptacles, and facilities that are owned or operated by the county or its designee, then ownership of these materials is transferred to the county or its designee.

  (6a) Regulate the illegal disposal of solid waste, including littering on public and private property, provide for enforcement by civil penalties as well as other remedies, and provide that such regulations may be enforced by county employees specially appointed as environmental enforcement officers.

  (7) Include any other proper matter.

  (b) Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be consistent with and supplementary to any rules adopted by the Commission for Health Services or the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

• 9 Steve Smith // Dec 10, 2007 at 2:02 pm

  Please Harrisburg

  Annex me before I die…Please. My time is not worth 2.00 dollars an hour. I have already canceled my contract with Allied Waste and will hall my trash, myself.

• 10 MarkMartin // Dec 11, 2007 at 9:30 am

  Steve - Harrisburg can not consider annexation outside of it’s present town limits unless:

  1 - Your area makes a formal request to the town for voluntary annexation.

  or

  2 - Your area is contiguous to the current town limits (and you still need to make the request).

  The reason why Harrisburg is not aggressive in annexation is because of the state laws that define the annexation process. The last census was 2000 and at that time Harrisburg had a population of approx. 4,000+. If a town has a population of less than 5,000 the town can not just annex parcels of land at will without consequences. The major consequence is ‘providing comparable public services’. Like, trash collection, WATER, sewer, fire protection (hydrants), etc… Water is the big one. Harrisburg is not financially capable of providing water to extended areas outside of the current town limits. Harrisburg has to rely on developers who need water for their projects in order to extend water lines. So as the land around Harrisburg is developed, water lines get extended into new areas. And all of the new developments are voluntary annexation, which means Harrisburg does not have to provide comparable public services. Voluntary annexation allows Harrisburg to be ‘exempt’ from the consequences (again the main issue is water). Harrisburg is always willing to provide all services to voluntary annexation, except for water (because it is very expense to extend water lines).

  Now, all that said; the rules change on the next census (2010). Everyone knows that Harrisburg has already exceeded a population count of 5,000. The next census in 2010 will show that as well. At that time, it is expected that Harrisburg will literally grow overnight. The town would have the ability to expand to the boundaries of their ETJ without annexation restrictions (for the most part).

  So you can request voluntary annexation now or wait a few more years.

• 11 Steve Smith // Dec 11, 2007 at 2:04 pm

  Mark;

  Thanks for the info. My Sub-division is contiguous to the City Limits but I can’t get everyone in this area to agree that the sun will come up every morning, much less to get them to agree to be annexed into Harrisburg. I guess I’ll have to wait until 2010. I just hope that Charlotte doesn’t decide to come get me. Harrisburg used to have an agreement with Charlotte not to annex across the County Line but then several years ago the State of North Carolina tried to move the County Line so that Mecklenburg could get the Brooksdale Shopping Center (Harris-Teeter) on Rocky River Road until Bob Carruth came out here and stopped them. (Thanks Bob, I havn’t forgotten). Harrisburg is still fighting with the residents of Huntwick concerning their Sewer System. We have the same Company (Carolina Water System) and I know their not gonna’ give up this cash cow without a fight.

• 12 Aaron // Dec 11, 2007 at 3:02 pm

  “Also - BFI operates under a franchise agreement, which means there is no public funding of garbage collection. If the county offered it as a service, the cost of the individual billing administration that now occurs would not be necessary, and could drive the cost down.”

  Bob- Thanks for clarifying that point. To the latter point of that statement: What you are saying is that if the county managed the service soley it would be cheaper than getting it through private sources?

  That’s funny for me to say considering the excessive costs of medicaid, medicare, welfare, WIC, Public Housing, Public Water and public education…

  I guess something as simple as trash service would be difficult for anyone to screw up…

  More to the point: is there anything illegal with another company who does not have a franchise agreement from starting up and collecting garbage or does the franchise agreement give territory right to BFI?

• 13 Aaron // Dec 11, 2007 at 3:06 pm

  Bob- Should have read your previous posts…

  So I guess the question is: How much does a license cost cause I might be getting into the trash business.

  My hook will be “Trash-Two-fer Tuesdays” or something like that…

• 14 Deborah // Jan 14, 2008 at 1:18 am

  I feel like they are getting us ever way they can when you are on a fixed income then they come up with the recycle that was great but charge us so they make money that is bull. I will burn my trash and sell my cans and get the money my self see how they like that. I hope eveybody stop useing them to show them then they may think before they try to get money on both ends.

• 15 Steve Smith // Jan 14, 2008 at 9:29 am

  Deborah

  Thats a good idea if you live on a larger tract of land but alot of the people effected by this live in developments where its against the law to burn within 100 feet of a building. Some people haul their trash to work and dump in their employers dumpster, some just haul to a shopping center and dump behind the stores either of which can get you into trouble if you are caught. Mecklenburg County allows its residents to haul their own trash to the recycling centers located around the County and dump for free if you recycle. That would have been my suggestion for Cabarrus County as well but no one asked me. I did drop the service from Allied Waste because I can’t afford it anymore. (live on fixed income) I’m not gonna tell the world how I get rid of my trash in this forum but I do get rid of it.

  My suggestion would be for Cabarrus County to allow it residents free access to the landfills and allow us to haul our own trash (Household Waste only) providing that we recycle. It works for other Counties and it could work here as well.

  Please don’t catch your house on fire but good luck with your idea. I all for freedom of choice for trash collection.

• 16 Bob Durant // Jan 18, 2008 at 6:42 pm

  Who will pay us for cleaning all of the recycables,when we are in a drought.

• 17 Justin Thibault // Jan 19, 2008 at 11:56 am

  Bob -
  

  Who will pay us for cleaning all of the recycables,when we are in a drought.

  Alright, now, that’s just silly. I’ve lived in Concord for half of my life and during all of that time: we’ve had recycling and I’ve never “cleaned” the recyclables.

• 18 Steve Smith // Feb 18, 2008 at 8:54 am

  I still havn’t figured out what to do with my household trash since I
  stopped the service from Allied Waste but my neighbor has figured it
  out. I looked out my back door today he had a 55 gallon drum full of
  trash on fire whith the smoke rifting all over the neighborhood. One
  call to the fire department put an end to his answer to the increased
  garbage collection fee and a letter to the County Fire Marshal I hope
  will bring an end to his continued burning of trash in his back yard.
  You got to admire his effort even though he may burn the entire
  neighborhood down.