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Currently in Virginia, 10 counties have the ability to charge residents a fee for solid waste disposal. Prince Edward won’t be the 11th, at least not this year. During their Dec. 10 meeting, Prince Edward supervisors voted against requesting the General Assembly to add the county to that list. 

The idea had been proposed by Prince Edward staff, to help cover the cost of maintaining and developing both the landfill and county convenience center sites. Currently Accomack, Augusta, Bath, Buckingham, Floyd, Highland, Pittsylvania, Russell, Southampton and Wise counties have some form of permission from the General Assembly to charge their respective residents a fee for handling solid waste removal. When Prince Edward supervisors asked how much that could add up to, Prince Edward Administrator Doug Stanley said it could be a significant amount. 

“It depends on where you set (the fee),” Stanley said. “You could raise half a million, three quarters of a million by having say a $100 per household waste fee.” 

Stanley also pointed out that currently, the cost of maintaining and improving the landfill and convenience center sites comes out of the real estate tax. 

“In a way, you could argue we’re using real estate tax to subsidize solid waste right now,” Stanley said. “This way, especially on rental properties, you could shift some of that burden over to a waste fee. But there are only a handful of localities that are able to implement that.”  

To be clear, in Virginia, counties and cities only have the abilities given by the General Assembly. Just like with the proposed 1% sales tax in years past, any solid waste fee would first have to be passed in a bill by the Assembly, then voted on by Prince Edward residents. 

Some differing opinions on solid waste

Supervisor Jerry Townsend pointed out that the board has discussed concerns in the past about people from other counties coming in and dumping trash. He questioned if adding a fee like this might stop some of that behavior. His thought was slightly less than what Stanley had mentioned. Townsend was wondering if it made sense to do a $2 to $3 per household fee or maybe $3 per vehicle. That way only people who paid the fee could use the landfill and it would eliminate those from outside the county who travel in.

“I just think it would be good to have the ability,” Townsend said. “Whether we do it or not is two different things.” 

Supervisor Harrison Jones said he couldn’t support any increase in taxes or fees. The same went for other members of the board. 

“I personally would rather not ask for it, I’d just rather not have another line item of taxation,” Supervisor Cannon Watson said, acknowledging that the costs associated with the landfill maintenance continue to climb. “Obviously, the costs continue to run. They’re not slowing down (but) I don’t feel I have an appetite to ask for a fee.” 

In the end, the entire board agreed not to ask the Assembly to be added to the list this coming year. Board Chair Patti Cooper-Jones said they would look at it again next year. 

Some other priorities supported

With that rejected, supervisors did agree on a couple other priorities to discuss with local legislators. First is a request for the state to help fund the Sandy River Reservoir expansion. 

The Sandy River Reservoir is a man-made lake, encompassing some 740 acres just east of Farmville that opened in 1996. And now, after decades of planning, Prince Edward County officials are ready to put that reservoir to full use.

That means by as early as 2025, the county could begin extracting millions of gallons of water each day from the reservoir to not only fulfill the water needs of Prince Edward County, but also places across the region. The goal is to market Sandy River as a regional water source, for potentially other counties who need help to expand. 

“We’re gonna be meeting with our general assembly reps here in the next week or two about trying to get some additional funding, since we were left out of the Crewe discussion,” Stanley said.

He was referring to state level discussions to find a water provider for the Piedmont Geriatric Hospital, Nottoway Correctional Center and Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation. In the end, the state stayed with Crewe as a water source instead of Prince Edward.