Campbell pleads: Don’t increase county waste fee

The council, which oversees a very successful recycling program in the county, is considering veering from its core mission. At its Oct. 7 meeting, members discussed increasing a per-household fee from between 3.3 percent up to 17 percent, the highest amount allowed. The new funds would be used to teach composting at Leland and Glen Lake schools.

Campbell, speaking during public comment, stated that most people when voting for or against 10-year authorization of the fee had no clue that a portion could be diverted to public schools. The Solid Waste Council is seeking an opinion from an attorney representing Leelanau County to determine if diverting funds from the collection of recycled material would fall under permitted activities.

Earlier this year the County Board of Commissioners voted to drastically increase soil erosion fees required of most earthwork and all commercial construction in Leelanau.

The per=household fee may be the most aggressive tax in the county.

Following is a copy of Campbell’s written statement. His actual comments varied slightly.

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First, thank you for your service. People believe in recycling in Leelanau County. Credit for that goes to the work of volunteers and appointed people such as yourselves on the Solid Waste Council.

I speak not only to thank you, but to address your discussion about funding.

I suggest you don’t need to use public funds to pay for a county attorney opinion on the legality of  using the word “collection” fee, as it stated in ballot language, to expand into a completely new area.

If you look up synonyms to collection, I don’t think you’ll find public school education.

Instead, think aout what you believed the per-household fee represented when you voted for it. Did you think it would pay for classes in local schools? I did not. That was furthest from my mind.

Honestly, I’m not sure I would trust the county attorney. In his paper on Open Meetings Act violations, he wrote the opinion he thought commissioners wanted. It took the county Prosecutor to overturn the FOI opinion written by the attorney representing Leelanau County.

Thank goodness the Prosecutor did.

Sometimes right and wrong goes beyond a legal opinion. It’s simply right and wrong. You may feel empowered to raise fees. But not at the loss of public trust.

And there shouldn’t be a need to raise fees. The taxable value of Leelanau County increased 9.3 percent. Last year it increased 8.8 percent. The total taxable value in all of the county now tops $4 billion.

Rather than increase fees, why not allocate funds for your expanded projects from the taxes the county already receives?

I know it’s just a small amount, But it’s always a small amount. And then it all adds up.

The per-household fee may be the most regressive tax collected in Leelanau County.

Please look for other sources.