FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling Wednesday the Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District must share revenue from solid waste fees with the Boston Mountain Solid Waste District.
The Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet the Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District lacked statutory authority to unilaterally supersede and replace Boston Mountain Regional Solid Waste Management District's $1.50-per-ton Waste Assessment Fee with its own one-cent-per-ton Waste Assessment Fee.
Threet found the Benton County district's imposition of a "service fee" was an attempt to avoid state law requiring the district share revenue from solid waste fees with the Boston Mountain Solid Waste District.
Justices said the state's Fee Statute on solid waste disposal and transportation requires a Waste Assessment Fee imposed on waste moved between solid waste districts "be divided equally" between Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District and Boston Mountain Regional Solid Waste Management District in the absence of an interlocal agreement between the parties.
"In the case before us, the circuit court correctly looked to the plain language of the Fee Statute when it found that Benton County RSWMD could not unilaterally deny Boston Mountain RSWMD its statutory right to assess and collect its own Waste Assessment Fee, and we therefore affirm the grant of summary judgment on this ground," according to the court's opinion.
Justices also said Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District was seeking to circumvent the court's previous ruling requiring application of the plain language of the state statute by renaming its Waste Assessment Fee to a Service Fee, leaving only a nominal Waste Assessment Fee to be shared by the districts.
Despite the plain language of the Fee Statute, the purported Service Fee adopted by Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District is not levied on "residence[s] or business[es]," nor is it triggered by the board's making solid-waste-collection or disposal services available, according to the opinion. The circuit court correctly held that Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District lacked statutory authority to assess a per-ton Service Fee on waste haulers, thereby making the haulers responsible for collecting and remitting the Service Fee to Benton County Regional Solid Waste Management District.
"The plain language of the Fee Statute provides that the service fee is to be levied on residences and businesses for which the board makes solid waste collection or disposal services available––not on haulers," according to Tuesday's opinion.