Ohio Rev. Code § 3734.57
In the case of solid wastes that are taken to a solid waste transfer facility located in this state prior to being transported for disposal at a solid waste disposal facility located in this state or outside of this state, the fees levied under this division shall be collected by the owner or operator of the transfer facility as a trustee for the state. The amount of fees required to be collected under this division at such a transfer facility shall equal the total tonnage of solid wastes received at the facility multiplied by the fees levied under this division. In the case of solid wastes that are not taken to a solid waste transfer facility located in this state prior to being transported to a solid waste disposal facility, the fees shall be collected by the owner or operator of the solid waste disposal facility as a trustee for the state. The amount of fees required to be collected under this division at such a disposal facility shall equal the total tonnage of solid wastes received at the facility that was not previously taken to a solid waste transfer facility located in this state multiplied by the fees levied under this division. Fees levied under this division do not apply to materials separated from a mixed waste stream for recycling by a generator or materials removed from the solid waste stream through recycling, as "recycling" is defined in rules adopted under section 3734.02 of the Revised Code.
The owner or operator of a solid waste transfer facility or disposal facility, as applicable, shall prepare and file with the director of environmental protection each month a return indicating the total tonnage of solid wastes received at the facility during that month and the total amount of the fees required to be collected under this division during that month. In addition, the owner or operator of a solid waste disposal facility shall indicate on the return the total tonnage of solid wastes received from transfer facilities located in this state during that month for which the fees were required to be collected by the transfer facilities. The monthly returns shall be filed on a form prescribed by the director. Not later than thirty days after the last day of the month to which a return applies, the owner or operator shall mail to the director the return for that month together with the fees required to be collected under this division during that month as indicated on the return or may submit the return and fees electronically in a manner approved by the director. If the return is filed and the amount of the fees due is paid in a timely manner as required in this division, the owner or operator may retain a discount of three-fourths of one per cent of the total amount of the fees that are required to be paid as indicated on the return.
The owner or operator may request an extension of not more than thirty days for filing the return and remitting the fees, provided that the owner or operator has submitted such a request in writing to the director together with a detailed description of why the extension is requested, the director has received the request not later than the day on which the return is required to be filed, and the director has approved the request. If the fees are not remitted within thirty days after the last day of the month to which the return applies or are not remitted by the last day of an extension approved by the director, the owner or operator shall not retain the three-fourths of one per cent discount and shall pay an additional ten per cent of the amount of the fees for each month that they are late. For purposes of calculating the late fee, the first month in which fees are late begins on the first day after the deadline has passed for timely submitting the return and fees, and one additional month shall be counted every thirty days thereafter.
The owner or operator of a solid waste facility may request a refund or credit of fees levied under this division and remitted to the director that have not been paid to the owner or operator. Such a request shall be made only if the fees have not been collected by the owner or operator, have become a debt that has become worthless or uncollectable for a period of six months or more, and may be claimed as a deduction, including a deduction claimed if the owner or operator keeps accounts on an accrual basis, under the "Internal Revenue Code of 1954," 68A Stat. 50, 26 U.S.C. 166, as amended, and regulations adopted under it. Prior to making a request for a refund or credit, an owner or operator shall make reasonable efforts to collect the applicable fees. A request for a refund or credit shall not include any costs resulting from those efforts to collect unpaid fees.
A request for a refund or credit of fees shall be made in writing, on a form prescribed by the director, and shall be supported by evidence that may be required in rules adopted by the director under this chapter. After reviewing the request, and if the request and evidence submitted with the request indicate that a refund or credit is warranted, the director shall grant a refund to the owner or operator or shall permit a credit to be taken by the owner or operator on a subsequent monthly return submitted by the owner or operator. The amount of a refund or credit shall not exceed an amount that is equal to ninety days' worth of fees owed to an owner or operator by a particular debtor of the owner or operator. A refund or credit shall not be granted by the director to an owner or operator more than once in any twelve-month period for fees owed to the owner or operator by a particular debtor.
If, after receiving a refund or credit from the director, an owner or operator receives payment of all or part of the fees, the owner or operator shall remit the fees with the next monthly return submitted to the director together with a written explanation of the reason for the submittal.
For purposes of computing the fees levied under this division or division (B) of this section, any solid waste transfer or disposal facility that does not use scales as a means of determining gate receipts shall use a conversion factor of three cubic yards per ton of solid waste or one cubic yard per ton for baled waste, as applicable.
The fees levied under this division and divisions (B) and (C) of this section are in addition to all other applicable fees and taxes and shall be paid by the customer or a political subdivision to the owner or operator of a solid waste transfer or disposal facility. In the alternative, the fees shall be paid by a customer or political subdivision to a transporter of waste who subsequently transfers the fees to the owner or operator of such a facility. The fees shall be paid notwithstanding the existence of any provision in a contract that the customer or a political subdivision may have with the owner or operator or with a transporter of waste to the facility that would not require or allow such payment regardless of whether the contract was entered prior to or after October 16, 2009. For those purposes, "customer" means a person who contracts with, or utilizes the solid waste services of, the owner or operator of a solid waste transfer or disposal facility or a transporter of solid waste to such a facility.
The solid waste management plan of the county or joint district approved under section 3734.521 or 3734.55 of the Revised Code and any amendments to it, or the resolution adopted under this division, as appropriate, shall establish the rates of the fees levied under divisions (B)(1), (2), and (3) of this section, if any, and shall specify whether the fees are levied on the basis of tons or cubic yards as the unit of measurement. A solid waste management district that levies fees under this division on the basis of cubic yards shall do so in accordance with division (A) of this section.
The fee levied under division (B)(1) of this section shall be not less than one dollar per ton nor more than two dollars per ton, the fee levied under division (B)(2) of this section shall be not less than two dollars per ton nor more than four dollars per ton, and the fee levied under division (B)(3) of this section shall be not more than the fee levied under division (B)(1) of this section.
Prior to the approval of the solid waste management plan of a district under section 3734.55 of the Revised Code, the solid waste management policy committee of a district may levy fees under this division by adopting a resolution establishing the proposed amount of the fees. Upon adopting the resolution, the committee shall deliver a copy of the resolution to the board of county commissioners of each county forming the district and to the legislative authority of each municipal corporation and township under the jurisdiction of the district and shall prepare and publish the resolution and a notice of the time and location where a public hearing on the fees will be held. Upon adopting the resolution, the committee shall deliver written notice of the adoption of the resolution; of the amount of the proposed fees; and of the date, time, and location of the public hearing to the director and to the fifty industrial, commercial, or institutional generators of solid wastes within the district that generate the largest quantities of solid wastes, as determined by the committee, and to their local trade associations. The committee shall make good faith efforts to identify those generators within the district and their local trade associations, but the nonprovision of notice under this division to a particular generator or local trade association does not invalidate the proceedings under this division. The publication shall occur at least thirty days before the hearing. After the hearing, the committee may make such revisions to the proposed fees as it considers appropriate and thereafter, by resolution, shall adopt the revised fee schedule. Upon adopting the revised fee schedule, the committee shall deliver a copy of the resolution doing so to the board of county commissioners of each county forming the district and to the legislative authority of each municipal corporation and township under the jurisdiction of the district. Within sixty days after the delivery of a copy of the resolution adopting the proposed revised fees by the policy committee, each such board and legislative authority, by ordinance or resolution, shall approve or disapprove the revised fees and deliver a copy of the ordinance or resolution to the committee. If any such board or legislative authority fails to adopt and deliver to the policy committee an ordinance or resolution approving or disapproving the revised fees within sixty days after the policy committee delivered its resolution adopting the proposed revised fees, it shall be conclusively presumed that the board or legislative authority has approved the proposed revised fees. The committee shall determine if the resolution has been ratified in the same manner in which it determines if a draft solid waste management plan has been ratified under division (B) of section 3734.55 of the Revised Code.
The committee may amend the schedule of fees levied pursuant to a resolution adopted and ratified under this division by adopting a resolution establishing the proposed amount of the amended fees. The committee may repeal the fees levied pursuant to such a resolution by adopting a resolution proposing to repeal them. Upon adopting such a resolution, the committee shall proceed to obtain ratification of the resolution in accordance with this division.
Not later than fourteen days after declaring the new fees to be ratified or the fees to be repealed under this division, the committee shall notify by certified mail the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility that is required to collect the fees of the ratification and the amount of the fees or of the repeal of the fees. Collection of any fees shall commence or collection of repealed fees shall cease on the first day of the second month following the month in which notification is sent to the owner or operator.
Fees levied under this division also may be established, amended, or repealed by a solid waste management policy committee through the adoption of a new district solid waste management plan, the adoption of an amended plan, or the amendment of the plan or amended plan in accordance with sections 3734.55 and 3734.56 of the Revised Code or the adoption or amendment of a district plan in connection with a change in district composition under section 3734.521 of the Revised Code.
Not later than fourteen days after the director issues an order approving a district's solid waste management plan, amended plan, or amendment to a plan or amended plan that establishes, amends, or repeals a schedule of fees levied by the district, the committee shall notify by certified mail the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility that is required to collect the fees of the approval of the plan or amended plan, or the amendment to the plan, as appropriate, and the amount of the fees, if any. In the case of an initial or amended plan approved under section 3734.521 of the Revised Code in connection with a change in district composition, other than one involving the withdrawal of a county from a joint district, the committee, within fourteen days after the change takes effect pursuant to division (G) of that section, shall notify by certified mail the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility that is required to collect the fees that the change has taken effect and of the amount of the fees, if any. Collection of any fees shall commence or collection of repealed fees shall cease on the first day of the second month following the month in which notification is sent to the owner or operator.
If, in the case of a change in district composition involving the withdrawal of a county from a joint district, the director completes the actions required under division (G)(1) or (3) of section 3734.521 of the Revised Code, as appropriate, forty-five days or more before the beginning of a calendar year, the policy committee of each of the districts resulting from the change that obtained the director's approval of an initial or amended plan in connection with the change, within fourteen days after the director's completion of the required actions, shall notify by certified mail the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility that is required to collect the district's fees that the change is to take effect on the first day of January immediately following the issuance of the notice and of the amount of the fees or amended fees levied under divisions (B)(1) to (3) of this section pursuant to the district's initial or amended plan as so approved or, if appropriate, the repeal of the district's fees by that initial or amended plan. Collection of any fees set forth in such a plan or amended plan shall commence on the first day of January immediately following the issuance of the notice. If such an initial or amended plan repeals a schedule of fees, collection of the fees shall cease on that first day of January.
If, in the case of a change in district composition involving the withdrawal of a county from a joint district, the director completes the actions required under division (G)(1) or (3) of section 3734.521 of the Revised Code, as appropriate, less than forty-five days before the beginning of a calendar year, the director, on behalf of each of the districts resulting from the change that obtained the director's approval of an initial or amended plan in connection with the change proceedings, shall notify by certified mail the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility that is required to collect the district's fees that the change is to take effect on the first day of January immediately following the mailing of the notice and of the amount of the fees or amended fees levied under divisions (B)(1) to (3) of this section pursuant to the district's initial or amended plan as so approved or, if appropriate, the repeal of the district's fees by that initial or amended plan. Collection of any fees set forth in such a plan or amended plan shall commence on the first day of the second month following the month in which notification is sent to the owner or operator. If such an initial or amended plan repeals a schedule of fees, collection of the fees shall cease on the first day of the second month following the month in which notification is sent to the owner or operator.
If the schedule of fees that a solid waste management district is levying under divisions (B)(1) to (3) of this section is amended or repealed, the fees in effect immediately prior to the amendment or repeal shall continue to be collected until collection of the amended fees commences or collection of the repealed fees ceases, as applicable, as specified in this division. In the case of a change in district composition, money so received from the collection of the fees of the former districts shall be divided among the resulting districts in accordance with division (B) of section 343.012 of the Revised Code and the agreements entered into under division (B) of section 343.01 of the Revised Code to establish the former and resulting districts and any amendments to those agreements.
For the purposes of the provisions of division (B) of this section establishing the times when newly established or amended fees levied by a district are required to commence and the collection of fees that have been amended or repealed is required to cease, "fees" or "schedule of fees" includes, in addition to fees levied under divisions (B)(1) to (3) of this section, those levied under section 3734.573 or 3734.574 of the Revised Code.
The legislative authority of a municipal corporation or township may levy fees under this division by enacting an ordinance or adopting a resolution establishing the amount of the fees. Upon so doing the legislative authority shall mail a certified copy of the ordinance or resolution to the board of county commissioners or directors of the county or joint solid waste management district in which the municipal corporation or township is located or, if a regional solid waste management authority has been formed under section 343.011 of the Revised Code, to the board of trustees of that regional authority, the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility in the municipal corporation or township that is required to collect the fee by the ordinance or resolution, and the director of environmental protection. Although the fees levied under this division are levied on the basis of tons as the unit of measurement, the legislative authority, in its ordinance or resolution levying the fees under this division, may direct that the fees be levied on the basis of cubic yards as the unit of measurement based upon a conversion factor of three cubic yards per ton generally or one cubic yard per ton for baled wastes.
Not later than five days after enacting an ordinance or adopting a resolution under this division, the legislative authority shall so notify by certified mail the owner or operator of each solid waste disposal facility that is required to collect the fee. Collection of any fee levied on or after March 24, 1992, shall commence on the first day of the second month following the month in which notification is sent to the owner or operator.
Prior to the approval of the district's solid waste management plan under section 3734.55 of the Revised Code, moneys in the special fund of the district arising from the fees shall be expended for those purposes in the manner prescribed by the solid waste management policy committee by resolution.
Notwithstanding division (G)(6) of this section as it existed prior to October 29, 1993, or any provision in a district's solid waste management plan prepared in accordance with division (B)(2)(e) of section 3734.53 of the Revised Code as it existed prior to that date, any moneys arising from the fees levied under division (B)(3) of this section prior to January 1, 1994, may be expended for any of the purposes authorized in divisions (G)(1) to (10) of this section.
R.C. § 3734.57