Mesteller v. Gwinnett Cnty.

The Supreme Court upheld Gwinnett County's Solid Waste Ordinance, as the solid waste fee was not an unlawful tax, but rather a charge for services.

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Robert Mesteller appeals the superior court’s grant of summary judgment to Gwinnett County and its Board of Commissioners “the County”, in this suit challenging Gwinnett County’s Solid Waste Ordinance. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

The Home Rule provision of the Georgia Constitution authorizes counties to provide “garbage and solid waste collection and disposal” services. Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. IX, Sec. II, Para. III a 2.1 And, OCGA § 12-8-39.3 a allows any county that “provides solid waste collection services . . . and which levies and collects taxes, fees, or assessments to accomplish that purpose” to use the methods “authorized by law for the enforcement of the collection and payment of state taxes, fees, or assessments.”2 Relying upon these provisions, among others, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners adopted the Gwinnett County Solid Waste Collection and Disposal Ordinance of 2010 “Ordinance”. Under the Ordinance, Gwinnett County was divided into five zones, each to be serviced by a private waste management company. The County entered into agreements with these five waste collection service providers, whereby each is compensated for providing solid waste collection services to the properties in its zone based upon the number of properties involved. Each month, the providers send Gwinnett County an electronic summary of the number of “Residential Service Units” in its zone, which is multiplied by the rate of $17.86, which figure reflects the inclusion of an administrative services fee due the County of $1.25 per Residential Service Unit per month. The County collects fees for the waste collection services through annual tax assessment notices, which it then remits to the five service providers, minus the service fee. The Ordinance required the first billing to be included with 2010 taxes extending through the end of 2011, resulting in an initial billing that reflected a period of more than one year.

Mesteller v. Gwinnett Cnty.

The Supreme Court upheld Gwinnett County's Solid Waste Ordinance, as the solid waste fee was not an unlawful tax, but rather a charge for services.

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