Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Willisville wants its tax from county's solid waste

The fate of a sales tax currently used for solid waste is being questioned by the mayor of one of the smaller cities in Nevada County.

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown told members of the Nevada County Quorum Court during its March meeting the mayor of Willisville has requested an opportunity to address the court regarding the tax.

The tax was passed by a vote of the residents of the county and the ballot states the tax is to be used for solid waste and other purposes, Brown said.

The one-cent tax is collected all over the county and all the cities, with the exception of Prescott, turns over the entire amount collected in that city. Prescott retains the sales tax collected inside the city, but the city pays 55 percent of the cost of maintaining the landfill, Brown said.

The City of Emmet collects its own trash, Brown said. He said Emmet also pays to help maintain the county landfill.

The other cities, including Willisville, turns all their money over to the county for the landfill. In

return, the county provides trash pickup for those towns.

Willisville Mayor Garry Ann Jones said she has no complaints about the service provided by county, and would not want to discontinue the city's agreement with the county for trash pickup.

But Jones said the city of Willisville collected about $4,000 in sales tax revenue over the past five months, and said it does not cost that much for the county to provide trash service.

As an example, Jones said there are approximately 85 families inside the Willisville city limits. It takes the county about a half day to collect the trash. Allowing money for the cost of running the truck, and for two employees to pick up the trash, Jones said the cost is still less than the money collected by Willisville and turned over to the county.

Jones said her proposal is to allow the other cities to keep one-third of the sales tax money collected in their towns. In the case of Willisville, the money would be used for the day-to-day operation of the city, Jones said.

When Brown was addressing the Justices of the Peace regarding the issue, he recommended three JPs study the issue. Brown said the county would compile information on the financial impact of the proposal to help the JPs make the decision.

"If the money's there and they say do it, it's fine," Brown said. "The answer will depend on whether the county can do without the money."

The bigger picture, according to Brown, is that if one city keeps a share of the money, all the cities will want a share.

Jones said that is fair. She said her request will include the stipulation all the cities be included.

Brown said another issue is the long-term effects. The county will need to make capital improvements, including the purchase of anther trash truck, within the next year or two. There is also the maintenance of the landfill to consider.

"You've got to look at the future, too," Brown said.