BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Union County commissioners made the first of several road trips around the county on Monday, November 3, to get residents’ feedback on proposed increases to special assessments and to communicate the need for the additional revenue.
Garbage assessment not adjusted in 38 years
County Coordinator Jimmy Williams informed the crowd at the Raiford Community Center that the operating budget for the county’s solid waste operation is $1.3 million, and that the current assessment of $70 per home only covers $327,000 of the total cost.
“So… we’re about three and a half times upside down,” he said of the county’s garbage operation.
Board Chair Channing Dobbs blamed the solid waste deficit on prior commissions, which failed to periodically raise the assessment since it was first enacted in 1987.
“We got way behind,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” agreed Williams. “A dollar in 1987, when this assessment was put in place in Union County…is worth $2.61 today.”
“It was written in the ordinance,” Williams added, “it was supposed to be evaluated annually and so forth, but it wasn’t.”
Williams also explained that tipping fees charged to the county by the New River Regional Landfill totaled $272,776. However, that amount is offset by a $ 100,000-per-year fee the landfill pays the county for hosting the site and another $100,000 per year as a dividend the county receives for jointly owning the landfill, along with Bradford and Baker Counties.
One audience member asked why the landfill does not charge more in tipping fees to non-member users of the facility, which would reduce Union County’s costs.
Dobbs, who, along with Commissioner Donna Jackson, serves on the landfill’s board, agreed.
“We are actually in contract negotiations with Alachua County right now,” he said. “That’s something I would like to see is for them to pay more so that we can pay less instead of taking from our citizens.”
Another audience member, who lives near the landfill, complained about the traffic caused by garbage trucks from Gilchrist, Levy, and Alachua counties. The Raiford-area resident also expressed concern about water contamination in the area near the landfill.
Both Jackson and Dobbs explained that with today’s technology and regulation, the risk of contamination is low.
“I know for a fact that there are over 80 water monitoring wells out there, all the way around to the front,” Dobbs said.
Jackson and Dobbs fielded more questions about the landfill’s finances and operations, including inquiries about restricting the landfill to accepting only waste from Bradford Union and Baker, and how Union County could extract more money from the facility, such as increasing the host fee or getting a bigger cut from the methane gas revenue produced by the site.
The two commissioners explained that they are only two of six votes on the landfill’s board, and that the Bradford and Baker board members would likely outvote them if they tried to get a better deal for Union County.
Dobbs added that during one meeting, he proposed increasing the $ 100,000-per-year host fee that Union County receives.
“I was looked at as if I had three heads from the other counties,” he said.
County officials emphasized that tipping fees were not the issue, but rather the operating costs of transporting trash from the county’s collection sites to the landfill.
“If you were to pay zero tipping fees,” Williams explained, “We’ve still got a $1.1 million budget to be able to get the garbage to the landfill from your collection site.”
The county coordinator added that the county pays $17 an hour to CDL drivers, which is well below market rates.
Commissioner Mac Johns agreed that Union County’s garbage deficit is not anchored in landfill finances or operations. He added that the county cannot continue to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from its general fund to the solid waste fund.
Dobbs steered the conversation back to the fact that the special assessment had not been increased in 38 years, while the cost of everything else has risen.
“There are two members sitting on your Union County Board of County Commissioners who were not born when the last special assessment increased in 1987,” he said.
EMS losing $500,000 a year
When the discussion turned to the emergency medical services assessment, officials offered a more positive outlook.
Williams stated that despite an increase in call volume, the general fund’s contribution to EMS had decreased from over $800,000 in 2019 to approximately $500,000 in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Dobbs credited grants that paid for several new ambulances and other state grants that have lessened the burden on the department.
Jackson said the popularity of Lake Butler Hospital’s emergency department is also increasing call volume because many times, patients arriving at the Lake Butler ER must be transported to another hospital, and that is done with county ambulances.
Dobbs said one improvement to the department’s financial performance is that now, the county charges hospitals for wait times.
“Now, if we’re there for 15 minutes, they’re paying for that quarter of an hour for our people standing there waiting,” Dobbs said. “So, they’ve gotten a little quicker about finding beds, and when they’re not, our guys are on the clock. We get paid by those hospitals.”
Gas cheaper in Starke than in Raiford
Commissioners also discussed impact fees and assessing a county gasoline tax.
Dobbs explained that the state allows counties to assess a fuel tax of up to 5 cents a gallon, and Union County has never enacted the tax.
Revenue generated by the tax may only be used for county roads.
“People say, well, it’s going to make the price of gas go up,” Dobbs said. “I hear that a lot. Well, I’m going to argue that point since I can go to the (Starke State Road) 16 Handy Way and get it 25 cents cheaper than I can in Raiford, and they’ve got a tax and we don’t.”
