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Resident challenges county river-parcel trash fee as double taxation
Summary
A Grayson County resident, Brian Billings of Elk Creek, told supervisors he appealed a newly imposed trash fee on a river parcel and argued the fee amounts to double taxation for county residents who already pay a regular trash charge.
Brian Billings of Elk Creek addressed the board during public comment to challenge a trash fee imposed on river parcels in the county.
Billings said he appealed the fee last fall and that the appeal was denied based on the county’s ordinance interpretation. He told the board the fee amounts to double taxation because river-parcel owners like him already pay county trash fees at their primary residence and routinely take trash from a secondary (river) parcel back to their primary home for regular collection. He asked the board to treat resident-owned river parcels differently from nonresident or short-term rental properties and to spread any additional costs more evenly rather than charging a higher effective per-ton cost to river-parcel owners.
Billings used a per-ton illustration to make his point: he compared the county’s $240 residential annual fee and the county’s per-ton cost implied by a high-usage assumption with the much higher per-ton number that results when a rarely used river parcel is charged the same way. He said similar parcels in other parts of the county were not being singled out and asked supervisors to reconsider the county’s approach.
Ending: The board did not take immediate action during public comment but heard the concerns; county staff and the supervisor representing the area may follow up on the appeal and the ordinance interpretation.
