Commissioners direct public hearing on sanitation‑fee wording to exempt vacant unsold homes
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Summary
Commissioners agreed to amend the county sanitation ordinance so the service fee liability begins only when both a certificate of occupancy is issued and trash collection service begins; a public hearing will be scheduled next month.
Rich County commissioners discussed and approved sending proposed amendments to the county’s 2015 sanitation ordinance to a public hearing next month, seeking to clarify when sanitation fees become the owner’s liability.
County staff told commissioners the current ordinance holds “the owner and occupant of land” liable for the sanitation fee with no nuance for vacant or unsold homes. Commissioners and staff discussed cases in which owners were charged for residential fees even though no can had been issued and no collection service was provided for vacant homes within new subdivisions.
The proposed change would state that liability for the fee begins when both the certificate of occupancy has been issued and the owner begins to receive trash‑collection services. Commissioners asked technical clarifying edits to definitions and container sizes (for example, changing residential container definitions to 96‑gallon cans and standardizing commercial dumpster yardage) and instructed staff to incorporate those numeric changes into the draft ordinance.
Action and next steps: Commissioners instructed the county attorney and staff to prepare a revised ordinance and notice a public hearing next month. Staff said they would circulate the cleaned, amended draft to sanitation staff for a final list of container sizes and then publish the ordinance for public comment.
Why it matters: The change aims to prevent owners from being charged sanitation fees for properties that are vacant and not receiving collection service, which county staff said has produced complaints from property owners and builders.
