Committee backs one-year pilot for Polk County $35 recycling special charge

The Polk County committee voted to forward an amended Resolution 54-24 to the County Board with a positive recommendation, proposing that a $35 recycling special charge be implemented as a one-year pilot so staff can evaluate how it is applied.

The committee’s administrator (Speaker 6) told members the amendment corrects a clerical year error and sets the charge as a pilot rather than a perpetual assessment. "The resolution was amended ... it makes it a pilot program for the first year," Speaker 6 said, adding staff must collect tax information from towns, villages and schools and upload it into the tax database before the county can fully assess how the charge will apply.

Supporters said the pilot gives the Board an opportunity to reassess next year. Speaker 7 said the change transforms an earlier in-perpetuity approach into a one-year measure so the Board can "assess and reevaluate and make a decision again next year." The speaker also emphasized that the treasurer will certify which properties the charge will apply to under the resolution’s implementation language.

Several members raised equity and technical concerns. Speaker 5 pressed whether an owner of multiple rental units would pay only one $35 parcel charge, calling that outcome unfair: "If you own 30 rental units... they only pay for 1 then? How is that fair?" Staff and other members responded that county tax records do not contain unit-level rental data and that many scenarios cannot be resolved without the pilot’s data-gathering exercise; staff said it is technically possible to produce an owner-based charge but it requires manual reporting and data uploads.

By the end of discussion Speaker 3 moved that the committee send Resolution 54-24 to the County Board with a positive recommendation; the motion carried. The County Board will next receive the amended resolution for consideration and potential further refinement based on the pilot’s findings.