2009-11-19
DVltchess
County
Department il}f
Solid Waste
Managep.'l.ent
William R. Steinhaus
County Executive
Roger P. Akeley
Acting Commissioner
96 Sand Dock Road
Poughkeepsie
New York
12601-5444
(845) 463-6020
Fax (845) 462-6090
November 19,2009
Supervisor Office
NOV 2 3 2009
Received
Supervisor Christopher Colsey
Town of Wappinger
20 Middlebush Road
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Dear Supervisor Colsey:
The County is making plans to initiate an alternative method to fund expenses
associated with the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency (DCRRA). It
will be implementing a new solid waste user fee that will go toward payment of
a net service fee, scheduled maintenance of the Resource Recovery Facility,
various capital improvements, and solid waste departmental expenses.
The user fee is designed to be an equitable system based on each property's
waste generation characteristics. The new fee will be separate and distinct
from the County's general tax fund. Our research has shown that this user fee
system is used in other New York counties and that it necessitates a good
working relationship between user fee administrators and local assessors.
If this proposal is approved by the Legislature in December, users will be
notified by a separate mailing in early January with a billing to follow later in the
year. We are taking the opportunity to notify you of the possibility of this
change now because many questions may be directed toward you. Our new
user fee system will be based on tax parcel information and, therefore,
dependent on the usage and square footage information gathered during the
local assessment process. Several property classes will be exempt (e.g.
vacant land).
Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development and the Real
Property Tax office look forward to the opportunity to speak with you at an
upcoming meeting of Mayors and Supervisors to explain this system. Please
feel free to call myself or Lindsay Carille, Senior Planner, at 845-486-3600 with
any questions.
lid Waste Management
C: Municipal Assessors