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Time Set # 31.
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| Board of Supervisors Meeting |
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| Subject |
| Public hearing and adopt a resolution confirming the report of delinquent residential solid waste accounts and direct the Yolo County Tax Collector to collect on these delinquencies. (No general fund impact, $3,594.43 sanitation fund revenue, $32,349.85 waste hauler revenue) (Echiburú/Sinderson) |
| Recommended Action |
| Conduct a public hearing to receive input from property owners, and adopt a resolution confirming the list of delinquent residential solid waste accounts and directing the Yolo County Tax Collector to collect on these delinquencies. |
| Strategic Plan Goal(s) |
Champion job creation and economic opportunities
Collaborate to maximize success
Preserve and support agriculture
Protect open space and the environment
Provide fiscally sound, dynamic and responsive services |
| Reason for Recommended Action/Background |
This annual Public Hearing allows those property owners with delinquent Waste Management, Inc. (WM) or Davis Waste Removal Co., Inc. (DWR) residential solid waste accounts (for services including garbage, recycling, green waste, and bulky item collection and disposal) to address the Yolo County Board of Supervisors prior to the attachment of a lien against their property. Five properties are located in District 1, eleven properties are located in District 3, and 67 properties are located in District 5. These three districts are serviced by WM. In addition, one property is located in District 4, and no delinquent accounts were reported for District 2. Districts 2 and 4 are serviced by DWR.
BACKGROUND
In 2008, the County negotiated Franchise Agreements for solid waste services with WM and DWR. Under Agreements No. 08-177 (WM), and 08-206 (DWR), WM and DWR assume all billing responsibilities for solid waste services to customers in the unincorporated County. The language of these agreements and the corresponding Ordinance No. 1378 grants WM and DWR the ability to file property liens to recover delinquent accounts for any residential customer that has not paid for 365 days or more. Before filing a lien with the County, a Public Hearing must be held to allow protests of the proposed liens. This Public Hearing is scheduled for July 7, 2015.
As shown in Attachment C, procedures for the lien process are extensive and involve the franchise haulers, the Division of Integrated Waste Management (Division) and the County Auditor’s Office. The process was initiated by the haulers last November, but they won’t receive payment from this year’s liens until June 2016.
As a requirement of the Agreement No. 08-177 WM and DWR must provide regular notice to customers through billing statements, alerting those customers with overdue accounts. As the billing cycle is every two months for WM, up to six notifications were mailed out to those customers with overdue accounts throughout the year. DWR bills quarterly, so four notifications were mailed out to these potential lien customers. In addition, WM and DWR sent final letters in May and June, respectively, via direct mail to an original list of 226 property owners. The final letter was to inform them that a lien would be placed on their property if the past due service fees were not paid by the designated date of May 30, 2015.
The Division sent final lien notification letters for the remaining 131 property owners, who still had not paid their service fees and/or were not removed from the potential lien list for other reasons, such as a change in property ownership. Those letters were sent on April 15, 2015. Division staff also responded to numerous phone calls. Many of the potential lien customers have unique circumstances and questions, which required staff to follow up with the appropriate hauler regarding the customer’s billing, payment, and service histories. Two residents were also set up on payment plans as they reduced their bill to under the 365 days mark.
Each of the above steps was completed to assure that property owners had received proper notification and were allowed ample opportunities to bring their solid waste accounts current and avoid a lien attachment. As a result, the original list of 226 properties has been reduced to the 84 listed in the Report of Delinquent Accounts that staff is requesting the Board to confirm. From start to finish, the lien process requires an average of four hours of Division staff time per customer, which equates to approximately 524 hours a year to collect on these delinquencies. It is important to note that these 85 residential customers equal about two percent of the over 4,000 waste franchise collection customers in unincorporated Yolo County. |
| Collaborations (including Board advisory groups and external partner agencies) |
| County Counsel has reviewed and approved the resolution as to form. Division staff worked closely with the Yolo County Counsel, Assessors, and Auditors offices, as well as WM and DWR, to ensure the process was followed per Agreements 08-177 and 08-206, Ordinance No. 1378 and Government Code Section 25828. |
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| Fiscal Impact |
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| Source of Funds for this Expenditure |
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Explanation (Expenditure and/or Revenue) |
| Further explanation as needed: |
| This resolution authorizes a total of $35,944.28 to be collected through the Yolo County Tax Collectors’ lien process with ten percent of the total collected ($3,594.43) allocated to the Sanitation Enterprise Fund. The remaining 90 percent ($32,349.85) will be remitted to Waste Management, Inc. or Davis Waste Removal in proportion to the lien amounts collected from residents on lien in each hauler's service area. |
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