(A) Purpose of this section. The facility operator(s) shall be assessed the following tax for such reasonable expenses that the county may incur for the following emergency services.
(1) Equipment acquisition. The acquisition of special emergency equipment for dealing with hazardous and radioactive substances, to include protective clothing, detoxification equipment, breathing apparatus, collection apparatus, alarm systems, direct telephone or radio connection equipment, Geiger counters, special medical vehicles, and other such equipment as the county may reasonably require.
(2) Equipment maintenance. The cost of necessary maintenance and replacement of equipment as described in division (A)(1) above.
(3) Evacuation plans. The cost of preparing, testing, disseminating, and implementing both on-site and off-site emergency evacuation plans, the cost of keeping such plans current, and the cost of carrying them out should the need arise.
(4) Initial training. The cost of initial training for the county’s emergency response personnel, to include psychological preparedness training, to deal with emergency situations involving hazardous or low-level radioactive waste, and the cost of expanding such training as necessary.
(5) Updating training. The cost of updating such training as described in division (A)(4) above from time to time, and the cost of training new personnel.
(6) Hospital preparedness. Additional costs of the county’s hospitals as a result of the need for special emergency units at those hospitals to handle hazardous and low-level radioactive waste emergencies.
(7) Transportation Emergency Fund. An additional amount to purchase insurance to cover the costs of emergencies caused by accidents involving the transportation of hazardous or low-level radioactive waste to, or from, such facilities, for accidents occurring between the site boundary and the county line.
(8) Post-Closure Emergency Fund. An additional amount to purchase insurance to cover the costs of emergency services required to handle emergencies caused by hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facilities after such facilities have closed.
(9) Other. The cost of other emergency services and preparedness which shall be required from time to time.
(B) Monitoring.
(1) Purpose of section. The purpose of this division (B) is to ensure that adequate funds are available to fully monitor the environmental and health effects of the location of hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facilities in the county, and to ensure that such monitoring is in fact carried out. The County Commissioners recognize that the state and federal governments have primary responsibility in this area, but they also recognize that the resources of these governments are limited, and that the data generated by this county monitoring program is intended to supplement and complete the data generated by the state and federal monitoring programs.
(2) Monitoring costs. The facility operator(s) shall be assessed a privilege license tax to compensate for the monitoring functions undertaken by the county pursuant to § 51.60. This tax shall include:
(a) Salaries of county personnel needed to carry out any of such monitoring functions;
(b) Administrative support costs which are reasonably necessary to fulfill the duties of the county monitoring personnel, to include office supplies, secretarial time, maintenance of a public document room, and other such costs;
(c) The costs of training inspection and monitoring personnel and of updating such training from time to time;
(d) Costs incurred in hiring consultants to assist the county in monitoring;
(e) An additional sum, to be agreed upon by the facility operator and the Board of Commissioners, for maintaining monitoring of the environment and human health effects for perpetuity. This money shall be placed into a non-reverting fund, with interest to accrue to the fund, which shall be managed by the County Finance Officer, who shall give an annual accounting of the fund to the Board of Commissioners; and
(f) Other reasonable costs of monitoring as may be necessary.
(C) Other costs assessed under state law. The Board of Commissioners finds that the following costs are associated with hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facilities and their operations, that the county is not otherwise compensated for such costs, and that such costs shall therefore properly be assessed under state law to the facility operator(s).
(1) Recordation. It should be a matter of public record that property is located within a five- mile radius of a hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facility, operating or closed. The costs incurred by the Register of Deeds for placing notations to that effect on all deeds, grant’s indexes, plats, and other relevant affected documents shall therefore be assessed to the facility operator(s).
(2) Public information. The location of a waste facility is a matter of which the public should be completely informed, and concerning which the public should have ready access to the relevant information. Therefore, the following costs shall be assessed to the facility operator(s):
(a) Consultation with adjoining landowners. The cost of advising adjoining landowners as to their legal rights with respect to the facility, and as to health precautions;
(b) Consultation with farmers. The costs of advising farmers in the surrounding area as to health precautionary measures, in the event of accidents or spills, for their livestock and crops;
(c) School educational programs. Cost incurred, to the extent not already provided for by county or state school budgets, in presenting instructional materials to county school children on the facility, its potential hazards, and emergency preparedness;
(d) Health information. Costs incurred by the County Health Department in disseminating information concerning the facility and its effect on the public health; and
(e) Construction and maintenance of roads. To the extent that the county is not otherwise compensated therefor by the federal or state governments, costs incurred in improving or maintaining existing roads and rights-of-way, acquiring new rights-of-way, and constructing access roads, building parking areas, erecting warning signs or signals, and other such expenses as the county may demonstrate are associated with the facility and the increased traffic associated with it.
(3) Loss of ad valorem taxes. To the extent that off-site contamination, regardless of negligence on the part of the facility operator, reduces ad valorem revenues to the county, the loss to the county shall be compensated by the facility operator(s).
(4) Annual legal advice. The cost to the county of an annual review of this chapter and other laws and regulations in the field of waste management.
(5) Attorney’s fees. The cost to the county of reasonable legal representation in all cases arising out of the operation of the facilities in the county, or arising out of challenges to this chapter, provided that:
(a) The county is the prevailing party; or
(b) The county has had substantial justification for its position and has not litigated vexatiously.
(6) Bonding. The costs to the county of arranging suitable bonding or insurance or other financial security arrangements to cover the costs arising out of the location of facilities within the county.
(7) Other. Other costs the county may incur, and which the county may demonstrate are associated with the operation of the facility(s), and for which the county is not otherwise compensated.
(D) How tax calculated. The tax shall be calculated as follows.
(1) Annual. The annual tax shall be calculated by adding together the above enumerated expenses at the end of the calendar year.
(2) Quarterly payments. The facility operator may arrange to make estimated quarterly payments in advance.
(3) More than one facility. If there is more than one hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facility in the county subject to this chapter, the total tax for each facility shall be prorated among the various facility operators according to the percentage of the total weight of such wastes each operator has generated, treated, stored, or disposed of in the county for that calendar year.
(4) Negotiation. Should the facility operator(s) have reason to believe that this privilege license tax would prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the operation or continued operation of the facility(s), he or she shall specify in writing in a report to the Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board, setting forth the grounds for such belief with particularity, and stating the level of tax which would enable such operation. The Hazardous and/or Low-Level Radioactive Waste Board is empowered to negotiate the total tax, provided that:
(a) All such negotiations shall include at least one public meeting;
(b) Any decision be reported in writing to the County Commissioners, with the reason(s) therefor; and
(c) Such agreement must be approved by the County Commissioners before becoming final.
(5) Yearly renegotiation. Such agreement must be renegotiated each year thereafter.
(1996 Code, § 51.40) (Ord. passed 10-5-1987)