Broadwater County solid-waste assessment schedule nears final form; board sets public meeting timeline

Broadwater County’s solid waste advisory board reviewed a near-final draft of a revised assessment schedule for businesses, campgrounds and institutions and set a schedule for working meetings and public notices ahead of an authority deadline.

Board members and staff said the draft resolves many categories but still needs final edits on unit counts for some mixed-use properties. Misty, a solid waste staff member, told the board there are editing discrepancies in the draft—"a couple things that are highlighted in red that I was unsure about, because they were discussed in both working meetings, but they had different numbers with them."

The board discussed specific category clarifications that emerged repeatedly in working meetings: whether certain state-managed fishing access sites should be treated as campgrounds, how to count apartment and mixed bar/restaurant spaces (debate between 3, 4 or 6 assessment units), and how to treat hospitals and nursing homes (per‑bed calculations vs. set unit counts). Board members agreed to standardize campground language (for example, using "organized campgrounds" or naming specific sites such as York Island) and to maintain per‑bed counts for nursing homes, per prior working meeting notes.

Staff provided numerical examples used in outreach: a proposal to set Winston‑area outreach and small business units for tiers from 1 to 6 units (adapted from neighboring counties for comparability), and a specific example that wedding/venue listings researched online range from $9,000 to $35,000 for weekend packages—information board members used to judge the reasonableness of proposed assessment levels for high‑revenue venues. "I don't think 3 assessments is not aligned," one board member said when discussing premium venue pricing tiers.

The board also clarified how businesses with multiple uses will be charged: assessments follow the parcel or building where the business operates, so property owners and building managers may be assigned the assessment and may pass costs to tenants. Staff used Deep Creek Pizza as an example of a restaurant with apartments above the building: the assessment would be applied to the building and may be passed onto occupants.

On process and timing, the board set a path to complete the schedule: a working meeting was scheduled for April 22, the solid waste board will aim to finalize its recommendation at the May 13 meeting, the County Commission is expected to review the recommendation on May 14, and staff said the public notice would be posted April 30 to provide the required two‑week notice before any decision. Staff said the overall target remains to have the schedule in place by September 1. "So it could actually be done by the June 1," a board member said when discussing internal timelines for recommendation and commission action.

Board members asked staff to correct highlighted discrepancies in the draft, remove duplicate line items (for example, two nearly identical items at numbers 9 and 11), and explicitly name sites where confusion had appeared. Staff said they would circulate revisions and make a focused outreach plan to affected businesses before the recommendation route to the commission. No formal vote was taken; the meeting was a discussion and direction to staff to prepare the final draft for the listed working meetings and notices.