Hold a public hearing and adopt resolution confirming the report of delinquent residential solid waste accounts. (No general fund impact) (Lindbo/Juhler) (Est. Time: 5 min.)

This annual public hearing allows for property owners with delinquent residential solid waste accounts with Waste Management, Inc. (WM) and Recology Davis (Recology) to address the Board of Supervisors prior to the attachment of a lien against their property.  There are 137 parcels being affected this year, which span over all five Supervisory Districts.  Seven are located in District 1, three in District 2, nine in District 3, one in District 4 and 117 in District 5.

In 2022, under Solid Waste Franchise Agreement No. 19-248 (WM) and No. 19-249 (Recology), the haulers provided regular notice to these customers through bi-monthly and quarterly billing statements, respectively, alerting all customers with overdue accounts of the potential for lien.  As shown in the 2024 Lien Process (Att. C), the procedures are extensive and involve the partnership of the County and the franchised solid waste haulers to resolve the customer account issues prior to bringing this item before the Board.  This process was initiated by WM and Recology last November 2023; however, payment for these waste collection services will not be paid out to WM or Recology until the 24-25 tax cycle has concluded in Spring 2025. WM bills every other month, therefore these customers have received six prior notices and Recology bills quarterly, so these customers have received four prior notices.  In addition, the County has initiated 180-day, 90-day and 45-day notices (Att. D) prior to the final Public Hearing Notice (Att. E) being mailed directly to each homeowner.  

Many of the potential lien customers have unique circumstances such as out-of-state vacation homes (part-time Yolo County residents), homeowners with tenants who do not pay, and landowners that do not want to comply with the mandated waste segregation programs as prescribed under Senate Bill (SB) 1383.  Each of these situations requires direct follow up by Division of Integrated Waste Management (DIWM) staff, including extensive research on each parcel and in-person site visits to properties being recommended for lien.  These steps are all taken to ensure property owner complaints have been reviewed thoroughly. This also confirms that the haulers and DIWM have given each property owner the ability to bring their solid waste account into good standing, apply for the Low Income Discount Program offered by both haulers, or set up a payment plan prior to this public hearing.   In 2024, only one parcel owner reached out to set up a payment plan for the two properties they own in Dunnigan which will assist in paying off debt and avoiding lien. Therefore, these parcels have been removed from the Lien Report (Att. B). In good faith, we have worked with each owner that has contacted us to resolve their account payment issue, to avoid a lien on the property.  The original list had 352 parcels (delinquent accounts) and with the steps outlined above, our final recommended list (Att. B) has 137 parcels in the amount of $72,778.40 and the corresponding Resolution confirming the list (Att. A).

DIWM asks that the Board move forward with the three recommended actions so that we may close out the 2024 lien process.

County Counsel has reviewed and approved the resolution as to form. DIWM staff internally worked with the Assessor's Office and the Department of Financial Services and externally with WM and Recology to ensure the process was followed per Solid Waste Ordinance No. 1529, Solid Waste Franchise Agreement Nos. 19-248 and 19-249 and Government Code 25828.