By Rich Fowler
Staff Writer
Orange County commissioners want to look at the daily use at each of the county’s solid waste convenience centers before deciding which days or hours to cut.
At a budget work session Tuesday night commissioner Barry Jacobs said he was wary of shutting down the centers on Sunday, saying that even though they are only open for four hours they are heavily used on that day. He asked for a breakdown of daily use at the centers in time for the next budget discussion.
As part of $690,000 in proposed budget cuts, the Orange County Solid Waste Management Department has recommended reducing hours and days of operations for solid-waste convenience centers and the permanent closing of the Bradshaw Quarry Road center.
In an interview Tuesday prior to the budget meeting Gayle Wilson, solid waste department director, said the Bradshaw Quarry Road site was chosen because it was a small site that was the least-used of the convenience centers. Closing the center could save the county approximately $120,000 in 2009-10 and around $141,000 a year afterward.
“We’re not just arbitrarily recommending service reductions,†Wilson said. “This is in response to the board of commissioners’ direction to staff to seek out opportunities, services and programs that may be underutilized to try to reduce our expenditures in next year’s budget, and try to reduce the demand on property taxes.â€
Other proposed cost-saving changes include:
• Closing convenience centers an hour early (sites would close at 6 p.m.);
• Closing solid-waste convenience centers on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays;
• Eliminating free tipping permits at convenience centers to county residents who bring in oversized loads; and
• Eliminating mattress drop off at solid waste convenience centers (citizens and businesses would be responsible for delivery of old mattresses to the landfill).
The Bradshaw Quarry Road center would close for good on Oct. 1, the same day that the changes to hours and days of operation would go into effect.
Not accepting mattresses at convenience centers will save the county around $33,000. Wilson said that mattresses were too light for the considerable space they take up and were too costly to haul from convenience centers to the landfill.
Under the permit program, residents who brought oversized loads to convenience centers could get permits to cover tipping fees for up to three truckloads of waste at the county landfill. So instead of paying the usual tipping fee to the county for using the landfill, permit holders could dump three free truckloads at the landfill. Killing the permit program will save around $47,000.
To further keep expenditures down, the department won’t expand the number its curbside recycling routes this coming year. It will only expand curbside recycling in to new homes on already-serviced streets or new streets in already-serviced areas, according to Rob Taylor, recycling programs manager for the county.
Right now, around 60 percent of the county’s unincorporated areas get curbside recycling service.
Recycling in the municipal areas of the county is handled by an outside contractor, so any service expansion will be unaffected by budget cuts.
Taylor said that a small amount of small-business recycling expansion could occur, to the extent that the department is able to handle it.
For more information about Orange County’s solid waste programs, visit their website at co.orange.nc.us/recycling