WINTON – As Hertford County local government officials put the finishing touches on the 2017-18 fiscal year budget, two things are guaranteed….the property tax rate remains the same, but there will be a change in the operations of the county’s Solid Waste disposal sites.

At a scheduled meeting of the county commissioners here earlier this week, County Manager Loria Williams announced changes in the days that the disposal sites will be in operation.

“The reason we’ve made the choice to close these sites on certain days is that the expenditures are exceeding the revenues,” said Williams. “In lieu of increasing the fees, the commissioners have elected to close our dump sites two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

Williams noted that this new policy will impact all of the county’s Solid Waste disposal sites, with the exception of the main one located at the old landfill on Mt. Moriah Road near Winton.

“That site will maintain the same schedule it has right now,” said Williams of the Mt. Moriah Road location. “Citizens, if they choose to, can dump their trash on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but they’ll have to go to the Mt. Moriah Road site to do so.”

By closing all other sites on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Williams noted that would save the county $67,000 annually.

“Our Solid Waste budget has been about $50,000 in the red for the past two years,” Williams stressed. “We focused our attention there for this new budget year and hopefully by saving money on the operations of our Solid Waste disposal sites and getting some relief in the amount we’re paying to haul e-waste (old electronic equipment), we’ll be able to get our Solid Waste budget operating in the black.”

The new changes to days of operation at the Solid Waste disposal sites become effective July 1.

The Hertford County Board of Commissioners will reconvene their June 19 meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 27 at which time they are expected to adopt the 2017-18 budget.