Summit County adopts countywide fee changes, lowers uncovered-load penalty to comply with state law

Summit County Council voted to adopt an amendment to the countywide fee schedule (referred to in the meeting as ordinance 834), a package of modest fee changes that county staff said are needed to comply with recent state requirements and better align customer charges with service costs.

County public-works staff explained the ordinance adjustments during the council meeting. For uncovered or unsecured landfill loads, the county proposed reducing a rarely-enforced $200 fine to $15 and implementing a minimum $5 fee that the state will collect under House Bill 53 and DEQ rules; staff said the $5 is remitted to the state for a litter-prevention program and that the county will retain the remainder to administer reporting and the program. "We've had a $200 fee on there that's floated around for years — it's never been implemented," one public-works staff member told the council, adding that most people would turn around rather than pay an excessive fine.

The ordinance also adjusts appliance-disposal fees, proposing an increase from $12 to $18 to help cover the contractor cost of Freon removal. A county staffer said some nearby landfills charge considerably more (as much as $35 for refrigerators), and the increase is intended to better reflect removal costs while still discouraging cross-county disposal.

County counsel and budget staff confirmed that fee changes have to show a reasonable connection to the cost of services and that staff members prepared the supporting analysis. The council moved to adopt the ordinance on a motion by Roger, with a second; the motion carried.

Implementation steps include departmental updates to fee schedules and annual reporting to DEQ for the uncovered-load program; staff said representatives from affected county departments were present and available to answer follow-up questions.