The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a county-wide single fee to fund recycling and waste services, at Monday’s meeting.

The council voted 6-1, with Jim Ward voting against the resolution authorizing Orange County to charge property owners a single fee of $103 a year.*

“I think it’s a disservice to the people we are elected to represent to voluntarily pay . . . a significant amount of money more than the cost of the service that’s provided,” said Ward.

In late March, the council discussed two funding options with legislative boards from Carrboro, Hillsborough and the county.

At this assembly of governments meeting, CHTC members argued for a split fee of $94 per urban property per year and $118 per rural property per year.* They said the county’s waste convenience centers would be mostly used by rural residents so Chapel Hill taxpayers should pay a lower fee.

Officials from the other three boards argued for the single fee option.

Words between Ward and other council members became tense at Monday’s meeting. Here’s an excerpt, edited down for clarity.

Ed Harrison: “My neighbors and I can swallow three cents per day for people in Orange County.”

Jim Ward: “Ed, I’m sorry you used the analogy of three cents a day. To me that’s a smokescreen that obfuscates the reality of what you – it sounds like – and others are going to be willing to ask of the Chapel Hill taxpayers to pay: $100,000 – $200,000 more than the services that they’re getting.”

Maria Palmer: “Using words like smokescreen and things like that . . . If somebody chooses to say it’s three cents a day, and you choose to say $100,000, we could accuse you of making it sound enormous for purposes of scaring people. Nobody’s going to pay $100,000.”

Before this town council meeting, the Solid Waste Advisory Group, which includes members from each government board, approved the single fee funding. But the town council had to authorize the fee before the county got the authority to charge the fee.

On Monday, CHTC members, apart from Ward, said they did not want to stand in the way of moving forward. This funding will increase recycling in the county, they said, and there are more important battles to fight.

*The exact dollar amounts could change since projections are based on the fiscal year 2014/15 budget.

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