FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: January 17, 2019
Time Requested: 02:23 PM |
| Agency: |
Auditor, State of WV |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 2309 |
Introduced |
HB2496 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Environment |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
STATE FUNDS; LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Sources of Revenue:
Special Fund Closure Cost Assistance Fund
Legislation creates:
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
The purpose of proposed House Bill 2672 is to shift funding from the Closure Cost Assistance Fund (Fund 3328) which was set up in 1991 to properly close old landfills across the State, to local solid waste authorities. According to the 2017 West Virginia Solid Waste Management, Plan, 28 of the 35 old landfills have been properly remediated by the Fund. Given the progress made towards the closure of the old landfills, the portion of the solid waste fee assessed on landfill deposits, which is currently sent to the Fund, is being reduced in the proposed Bill to accommodate an in-kind increase in the portion of the solid waste fee charged by county or regional solid waste authorities to fund various recycling, litter control, and other locally important solid waste programs. In addition, the proposed Bill would allow for a reduction in the use of county commission/county tax dollars currently used to support various recycling, litter control, and other locally important solid waste programs.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2019
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2020
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
In analyzing the probable fiscal impacts, our first concern was determining whether sufficient funds are in place to satisfy the remaining debt service for any and all bonds which were issued to fund the landfill remediation efforts under the original Act. We contacted the West Virginia Solid Waste Management Board (the Board) and we were informed the ability to fund debt service is not an impediment to enactment of the Bill. We then determined the impact of the proposed Bill is to decrease the Solid Waste Fee being remitted to the Closure Cost Assistance Fund by $1.00 per ton for all solid waste collections occurring in West Virginia. According to the Board, solid waste collections totaled 2,037,422 tons on a State-wide basis during Fiscal Year 2018.
Therefore, we approximate enactment of the proposed legislation would reduce deposits into the Closure Cost Assistance Fund by about $2,000,000 per year. Upon enactment of the Bill, the local county and/or regional solid waste authorities would be authorized to continue to collect the total amount of $3.50 per ton and retain the $1.00 per ton as set out in the Bill. For our projection purposes, we have assumed that all county and/or regional solid waste authorities who currently operate a Commercial-Grade landfill operation, as explained elsewhere in this Fiscal Note Submission, would avail themselves fully of this new authority. For all intents and purposes, the impact of the Bill does not increase revenues on a State-wide basis, nor does it reduce expenditures; it merely redirects about $2,000,000 in fee revenue from the State-level to the Local-level.
Memorandum
We requested and received financial and tonnage information regarding the various county and/or regional solid waste authorities from the Board. Currently, the State has a total of 50 solid waste authorities in place, 48 counties have their own authority and seven other counties share two regional authorities. We believe the provisions of the proposed Bill might only be available to those solid waste authorities who currently operate a Commercial-Grade landfill operation and, if so, only 16 of the 50 solid waste authorities who currently operate 18 such landfills would be eligible to assess and retain the $1.00 per ton fee which is redirected under the Bill. If our implementation assumptions are correct and the West Virginia Solid Waste Management Board indicates they agree with those assumptions, the solid waste fees retained by these 16 solid waste authorities would increase by a total of approximately $1,961,000 collectively under the proposed Bill based on Fiscal Year 2018 actual results as provided us by the Board. However, the remaining 34 solid waste authorities might see no change in the amount of fees which would be made available to them.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Michael E. Sizemore, CPA
Email Address: Mike.Sizemore@wvsao.gov