2006-04-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Ms. Bell said she did not mean to be defensive, but part of the problem is that they have too much work. She was hoping they would have a general discussion with the COGC and then zero in on things. She asked how deep they needed to go to see some synergy with another department. She said the COGC is looking at the whole County, and the DEM is trying to find a little something that might fit in the bigger puzzle. Ms. Cushnie stated that the COGC is only convened for ten months, and they need to come up with a report. She asked, if the DEM's assumption is that commercial agencies pay 50% of all expenses, how close are they to that goal? Ms. Bauman said the 50% goal is their estimate of their true expenditures, that it is for handling the commercial trash. Ms. Bell said that for tipping fees, they are at about 39 %. It is a five -year plan that started three years ago. She said the next policy decision is hard: Do they charge people at transfer stations? Is the COGC issue to make them an enterprise agency? Should they charge residents for their trash in order to get to zero on a general fund subsidy? Ms. Nicholson said that is what the COGC needs to know from the DEM. Would it make sense to increase personnel to be at those transfer stations 24 hours a day? Would it generate enough money to more than pay for itself? The COGC cannot answer those questions, but the DEM could say to the COGC that it would help them to be able to charge individuals. She said the COGC does not have the expertise to analyze that, so they look to the department to bring up something that would help them, and then the COGC could include it as a recommendation. Ms. Bell said the short answer is that it would be more fair to charge residents. It would give them the incentive to change habits. But whether it would be cheaper, probably not. Ms. Cusluiie explained that the COGC's mandate is to look at the efficiency of the government. She said that when she visits the mainland, she looks at different approaches. Some of them may cost more, but they are fair and educate the public. She asked what is being done to create a fair and equitable government situation for everybody? The COGC comes around once every four years to present a department's side of a dilemma, but the COGC can only do so with facts and references to other agencies and government entities. Mr. Joseph asked how current the sewer fees are, and Ms. Bauman said that customers just received their November - December bills. There are several reasons why it is far behind, including waiting for information from the Water Supply Department and processing with the ordinance that took effect in October, 2005. They also don't want to send out bills covering four to five months at a time in order to get caught up. It is hoped that by next January or February, they will reach their goal of residential bills going out within a week of the end of the billing period. However, they will still need to wait for the meter readings on the commercial bills. 0