Single Family Solid Waste Charge

Single-Family and Multi-Family up to Six (6) Dwellings per Building, Includes all Townhouses

NOT IN A MUNICIPALITY; Does not apply to homes located in towns.

Disposal fees | Base Systems Benefit Charge | Incremental Systems Benefit Charge | Refuse Collection Charge | Leaf Vacuuming Charge

Disposal Fees:

• Paid by property owners via tax bill: $48.77/year.

• This fee substitutes for the Tipping Fee charged at the County’s transfer station ($56.00/ton) and is based on the estimated waste disposed by the average County single-family household (estimated to average 0.87089 tons per home during Fiscal Year 2013).

• Households that do not receive refuse collection service from County contractors (and thus, do not pay the Refuse Collection Fee) may have privately contracted collection. In these cases, the private sector refuse collector (“hauler’’) may not charge the resident for a County Tipping Fee. This is because owner of the single-family house has already been charged a Disposal Fee via the consolidated tax bill instead of the hauler paying a Tipping Fee.

Base Systems Benefit Charge:

• Paid by all property owners via the tax bill: $55.77/year.

• Covers the portion of the County costs of providing basic solid waste services for single-family waste that are not covered by the Disposal and Tipping Fees.

• These basic services are programs and facilities necessary to fulfill the County's legal obligation to provide for the management of all single-family solid waste generated within the County, which services must remain available to all single-family properties. They include:

  • overall solid waste program administration
  • solid waste enforcement activities
  • general program development
  • Division management personnel
  • general engineering and technical support
  • waste reduction programs
  • operation of the Waste-to-Energy Facility (also called the Resource Recovery Facility, or RRF)
  • the “Dickerson Facilities Master Plan” (an obligation to the citizens in the RRF area)
  • and County debt service on the Shady Grove Processing Facility and Transfer Station, Oaks Landfill, and the Recycling Center.

Incremental Systems Benefit Charge:

• Paid by all non-municipal single-family property owners via the tax bill: $109.22/year.

• Covers the cost of certain incremental services provided by the County only to non-municipal single-family households.

• Covered program costs include the curbside blue bin program, yard waste collection program, operation of the commingled container recycling facility, mixed paper processing, drop-off programs (net of material sales revenue), a rate stabilization, household hazardous waste programs, development of recycling programs, and single-family recycling education and outreach.

• The County is required to provide its curbside recycling services to all non-municipal town homes and multi-family properties in buildings with 6 or fewer units also.

Refuse Collection Charge:

• Assessed to those households in the Collection District which receive collection of refuse by a collector under contract to the County.

• Refuse collection service is for once per week curbside collection during Fiscal Year 2013 and includes on-call bulk pickups: $66.00 dwelling/year.

• This fee is calculated by dividing the County’s cost to provide the refuse collection service (including administrative costs, and net of collection fund investment income, and draw from fund balance) by the number of households projected to be receiving the service at mid-year.

Leaf Vacuuming Charge:

• Assessed to households in the Leaf Vacuuming Service Area: $88.91/year.

• This fee covers the cost of the street leaf vacuuming services provided twice each fall by the Department of Transportation, Division of Highway Services. This service is provided only in certain areas of the County.

  Map of and details about leaf vacuuming area

• The fee is calculated by dividing the cost of leaf vacuuming program by the number of households that receive the benefit of the service.  For Fiscal Year 2013, it is assumed that single-family households continue to account for 97.244% of leaves vacuumed.  That 97.244% figure resulted from an application of the County’s Geographic Information System (GIS) that calculated the deciduous tree canopy and property boundary data. Therefore, the charge was calculated by dividing 97.244% of the Leaf Vacuuming Program cost by the number of single-family homes located in the Leaf Vacuuming Program.  For more information, call Montgomery County's Customer Service Center at 311 (out-of-County: 240-777-0311, TTY: 301-251-4850).

• Homes that are not in the areas receiving this service are not charged the fee. Executive Regulation 6-99 provides for subdivisions to “opt in or out” of the service. For more information about how a subdivision may opt in or out of the Leaf Vacuuming Program, call Montgomery County's Customer Service Center at 311 (out-of-County: 240-777-0311, TTY: 301-251-4850).

Footnote:

With respect to the Leaf Vacuuming Charge, the six (6)-or-fewer dwellings per building criteria does not apply. Multi-family properties in the Leaf Vacuuming District.

• Solid Waste Charge home



• Single-family homes
• Single-family homes (municipalities)
• Multifamily properties
• Nonresidential properties
• Transfer Station and Recycling Center fees