Health Dept. looks for fair trash fees

The Lincoln County Health Department is taking a close look at how residents are assessed in order to fund the Refuse District, starting with recreational vehicles used as full time residences.

Currently, there isn’t a section in the county’s assessment policy for RVs or campers, said Health Department Director Kathi Hooper. In some cases where RVs are used as living units in mobile home parks, those living in RVs may not be paying at all for the disposal of their trash.

Under the existing assessment schedule, each residence — such as a home, apartment or mobile home — is charged one assessment.

Hooper said that the idea is that each single-family housing unit would be billed for a single assessment.

That assessment is what supports the refuse district, paying for things such as the operation of the landfill sites and transfer stations around the county.

The closest category Lincoln has for assessing RV parks is based on a campground, Hooper said. Even then the rate would be one assessment for every five units.

“So we don’t really have a policy of how to charge refuse assessments, and more and more we see (RVs) being used as living units,” she said.

And that trend appears to be growing.

Out of 10 mobile home parks chosen at random from county records, Hooper found three with RVs on lots where mobile homes could be.

Out of those, none have seen the number of mobile homes increase, but all three have added more RVs since 2016

In a mobile home park, the refuse fee is assessed to the owner of the mobile home, similar to the property tax bill for a stick-built home, Hooper said. Yet, while mobile homes aren’t permitted in RV parks, RVs are permitted in mobile home parks.

In a mobile home park with 10 mobile homes, the county would receive a refuse fee for each unit. But, if half of those spaces were occupied by RVs, the county would only receive refuse fees for the five mobile homes.

Some are now staying year-round in RV parks, Hooper said.

It’s also possible an RV park could be paying more than their share, depending on how much refuse is generated there.

As with other businesses, Hooper said she plans to start by trying to figure out how much refuse RV parks are actually generating. Based on that, the health department can work on a fair assessment for them.

“So I will work to find out how much garbage they’re actually producing, and what a fair assessment would be,” she said. “And then I’ll go to the commissioners for that approval, contact the RV parks, and give them some warning.”

Hooper said that she wants to provide owners the opportunity to prepare for any changes.

“We need to know what they should be charged so they can plan for it as well,” she said.

Hooper said that in general, the fee schedule needs to be reexamined. But, she feels that correcting the current inconsistencies with how RVs and RV parks are assessed will be a good place to start.

Other concerns

There are additional concerns for the health department beyond the refuse assessment, Hooper said. In many cases, RVs that are being used as permanent residences are still hooked up to water and wastewater with temporary connections.

“Under the trailer, court rules, they do still have to have backflow prevention, and there are approved plumbing materials that have to be used,” she said.

In addition, an RV that is at a mobile home park for more than 30 days has to be skirted, she said.

While these things would be violation of the state trailer court license, the county health department does the annual inspections for those types of violations, Hooper said.