13-2020. County, municipality, or agency; provide or contract for disposal of solid waste; joint ownership of facility; governing body; powers and duties; rates and charges.

(1) Effective October 1, 1993, each county and municipality shall provide or contract for facilities and systems as necessary for the safe and sanitary disposal of solid waste generated within its solid waste jurisdiction area. Such disposal shall comply with rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the council for integrated solid waste management programs.

(2) A county, municipality, or agency may jointly own, operate, or own and operate with any person any facility or system and may enter into cooperative agreements as necessary and appropriate for the ownership, operation, or ownership and operation of any facility or system.

(3) A county, municipality, or agency may, either alone or in combination with any other county, municipality, or agency, contract with any person to provide any service, facility, or system required by the Integrated Solid Waste Management Act.

(4) The governing body of a county, municipality, or agency may make all necessary rules and regulations governing the use, operation, and control of a facility or system. Such governing body may establish just and equitable rates or charges to be paid to it for the use of such facility or system by each person whose premises are served by the facility or system, including charges for late payments, except that no city of the metropolitan class shall impose any rate or charge upon individual residences unless a majority of those voting in a regular or special election vote affirmatively to approve or authorize establishment of such a rate or charge. For purposes of the charges authorized by this section, the premises are served if solid waste collection service is available to the premises or if a community solid waste drop-off location is provided, unless the person who would otherwise be subject to such rates or charges proves to the governing body of the county, municipality, or agency that his or her solid waste was lawfully collected and hauled to a permitted facility. Such proof shall be provided by a receipt from a permitted facility, a statement from a licensed hauler, or other documentation acceptable to the governing body of the county, municipality, or agency. If the service charge so established is not paid when due, such sum may be recovered by the county, municipality, or agency in a civil action or, following notice by regular United States mail to the last-known address of the property owner of record and an opportunity for a hearing, may be certified by the governing body of the county, municipality, or agency to the county treasurer and assessed against the premises served and collected or returned in the same manner as other taxes are certified, assessed, collected, and returned.

(5) If the county, municipality, or agency enters into a contract with a person to provide a facility or system, such contract may authorize the person to charge the owners of premises served such a service rate therefor as the governing body determines to be just and reasonable or the county, municipality, or agency may pay therefor out of its general fund or the proceeds of any tax levy applicable to the purposes of such contract or assess the owners of the premises served a reasonable charge therefor to be collected as provided in this section and paid into a fund to be used to defray such contract charges.

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Annotations

Subsection (4) of this section permits a municipal waste disposal agency to require periodic submissions of proof that a generator not using its system is disposing of waste at an alternate permitted facility on a regular basis, with the frequency of such submissions to be determined under a standard of reasonableness. Jacobson v. Solid Waste Agency of Northwest Neb., 264 Neb. 961, 653 N.W.2d 482 (2002).

Subsection (4) of this section provides a means by which a resident or business may avoid paying a service fee to a municipality having regulatory jurisdiction under the Solid Waste Management Act, but it does not alter the power to regulate conferred by the act. Jacobson v. Solid Waste Agency of Northwest Neb., 264 Neb. 961, 653 N.W.2d 482 (2002).

A municipality can only impose a garbage fee on those persons that actually use the garbage services provided. Village of Winside v. Jackson, 250 Neb. 851, 553 N.W.2d 476 (1996).