County finance committee approves trash fee hike

By Charles Sowell  

MAY 31, 2010 3:46 p.m. (0)

Greenville County Council’s Finance Committee voted to pass a one-mil tax increase request from the Greater Greenville Sanitation Commission on to the full council last week.

Thomas Jones, sanitation commission chairman, said 90 percent of the increase will go to pay off the commission’s bonded indebtedness and most of the remainder will be used to cover increases in the county tipping fee for using the Twin Chimneys Landfill and for things like increases in insurance costs for healthcare.

The increase represents a $12.39 yearly tax increase on an average valued home in the district, Jones said. That works out to about $1.03 per month. The sanitation board also requested a $10 yearly increase in residential sanitation fees and a $50 hike in commercial fees.

Residential fees would go to $150 per year and commercial to $250.

Jones said the county’s $4 increase in tipping fees last year tacked $150,000 onto the district’s costs and this year a $4 hike has added about $350,000 to the commission’s operating costs. By the time all of the planned increases in landfill fees are in place it will cost the district more than $1 million.

Medical insurance costs for the commission’s 130 employees are about $1.4 million, according to documents presented to county council.

Jones said the commission would have preferred to make the entire increase tax-based since it would put less of a burden on the district’s retired customers, but state law prohibits that by limiting the amount that can be raised through millage.

He said the disparity between the fee increase for residential and commercial customers reflects business’ ability to pay.

The Boiling Springs Fire District asked finance for permission to increase its tax millage by 0.4 mils and the matter was passed on to the full county council for consideration.

Boiling Springs Commission Chairman J.R. Christy said the increase is needed to make up for a revenue shortfall due to annexations by the city of Greer that cut into the district’s revenue stream.

The increase will exceed the fire district’s millage cap, Christy said in a letter to council, but council has allowed the district to exceed the cap in the past.

Christy said if negotiations with the City of Greer are successful and the fire district is still able to serve the area set to be annexed but for a fee from the city rather than a millage then the district will not seek any increases in the next fiscal year.

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