Dive summary:

• Last December, the North Caroline Supreme Court decided that the county has no authority to charge a fee for recycling services, a decision that is now putting Orange County's otherwise widely successful recycling program in jeopardy.
• The program is normally funded at the beginning of the year through a series of fees with the county’s annual property tax bill but since they weren’t able to collect this January, the program is quickly running out of money.
• The county is trying to come up with other ways to collect money and continue the program or different ways to create a loophole to allow city organized recycling.

From the article:

Another possibility would be to create service districts and levy a countywide tax, similar to how fire districts are funded. County Manager Clifton said that’s the best option for continuing or expanding recycling services.

“The service district proposal grants the county the greatest number of options to continue all services in some form or another, and probably to justify the expansion of services that aren’t there now, because the tax would be countywide,” Clifton told elected officials. “But that would only occur if the towns opt into the process and participate. If the towns decide to do their own thing separately, then the towns wouldn’t be covered.” ...