Expanded fees add to tax bills

And another recent decisions by commissioners - to increase the System Benefit Charge, which helps to pay the costs of disposing trash at the landfill, and increase the fire and rescue tax in five areas of the county - will undoubtedly put further strain on county taxpayers. Both fees are included in the property tax bill residents pay annually.

‘‘I understand that everyone is on a tight budget and has been hit with the rising cost of fuel, food, utilities, health care, et cetera,” said Board President Jan H. Gardner (D). ‘‘I personally grasp the impact of all these costs on a fixed budget.”

Gardner and the board increased the trash fee from $36 per year to $80 for fiscal 2009. In fiscal 2010, the fee will jump to $84 and increase to $88 in 2011.

The fee was increased to help combat a $6 million shortfall in the county’s Division of Utilities and Solid Waste Management budget. The shortfall is due to rising gas prices; the cost to haul trash to landfills in Virginia has jumped from $60.06 per ton to $68.47.

Commissioners also raised the ‘‘tipping fees” residents and businesses pay to dump trash at the county-owned landfill. Trash haulers will likely pass that increase onto customers.

‘‘Fuel is the big driver,” Gardner said. ‘‘We’re going to the bond rating agencies ... and we can’t go with a $5 million to $6 million deficit in one of our enterprise funds.”

Gardner said commissioners are putting together a letter to be included in tax bills with an explanation of the System Benefit Charge increase. Gardner wants residents to understand that the increase will also help to pay for expanded recycling in the county.

‘‘We are expanding the recycling program, so part of the increase covers gas and fuel and part of it covers the expanded recycling,” she said. ‘‘Since we don’t charge to recycle, this is the only way we have.”

But not everyone is buying it.

‘‘I do understand about rising fuel costs, etc., however, a 58 percent increase is a little excessive, don’t you think,” county resident Diana Halleman wrote in an e-mail to commissioners. ‘‘... I am telling you clearly and without malice that I simply cannot afford to continue to pay increased fees and taxes and live in Frederick County when I retire in five years. I love Frederick and the idea of leaving makes me physically sick. However, the idea of living in my car because I can’t afford rent⁄mortgage, utilities, taxes, etc., makes me sicker. It’s sad that one cannot plan to retire in a place they love and instead we are forced by local government to find a less expensive place to live that is more citizen-friendly.”

Gardner said she understands that the commissioners’ recent decisions mean financial hardship for some residents.

‘‘I’m not getting a raise...,” she said. ‘‘Whatever [commissioners] do also impacts us personally - all my family, all my friends and all my neighbors.”

Not all commissioners supported increasing both the tipping fees and the System Benefit Charge. Commissioners Charles A. Jenkins (R) and John ‘‘Lennie” Thompson Jr. (R) wanted to instead increase the tipping fee to $100.

‘‘My thinking was that for an average family the increase in the tipping fee from $74 to $100 would result in about a $26 increase plus a nominal $2 increase to the System Benefit Charge,” Jenkins said in an e-mail. ‘‘What was passed ... is an automatic $44 increase, plus the increased tipping fee.”

The proposal did not pass. Only Jenkins and Thompson supported the idea.

Fire stations in Point of Rocks, Jefferson, Myersville, Woodsboro and Libertytown have been moved from the suburban fire tax district to the urban tax district. These stations will now be provided paid coverage 24 hours a day. In return, residents will pay the urban fire tax rate of 12.8 cents per $100 of assessed value, up from the suburban rate of 8 cents.