A bill moving through the General Assembly will keep Georgians paying $1 for every new tire they buy, but the money won't necessarily go for tire dump cleanups.
With Gov. Nathan Deal's backing, the House will likely vote soon on a landfill bill that renews the $1 tire cleanup fee for another three years.
In the past nine years, about two-thirds of the $57 million the fee has raised has been diverted to things other than cleanups because lawmakers needed the money to fill holes in the state budget.
Legislation creating the tire fee, which was first collected in 1992, intended the money for the Solid Waste Trust Fund for tire dump and other cleanups. But lawmakers say it's unlawful to designate such fees for things like cleanups without amending the Constitution.
A proposed constitutional amendment to do just that hasn't moved since it was filed by Rep. Brian Thomas, D-Lilburn, a month ago.
"It’s been out there for a while but hasn't gotten any traction," said Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee and a co-sponsor of the resolution. "The public is still paying for something that may not go for what we told people it would go for."
Rep. Randy Nix, R-LaGrange, included the renewal of the $1-per-tire fee in a landfill bill he is sponsoring. He said he did so at the request of the Deal administration.
Deal needs the renewal because he is counting on the $6 million or so in revenue the fee brings in each year to help balance the budget. In only three of the past nine years has a majority of the fee money gone into the Solid Waste Trust Fund. Lawmakers said the money has been needed to pay for schools, public health care, prisons and other programs.
The Association County Commissioners of Georgia has complained for years about the raid on the trust fund, but it agreed not to oppose the renewal in hopes that it can work with the Deal administration to put more of the tire-fee money toward cleanups.
Brian Robinson, Deal's spokesman, noted that the governor's budget would spend about $1.4 million on cleanups next year. That's about one-fourth of what the tire fee is expected to raise, but it's more than has gone into the trust fund in some recent years.
"This revenue stream has been used to meet critical needs in the state over the past few years," he said. "We are doing everything we can in the budget to put as much money as we can into education. We have submitted a very conservative budget in difficult times."
Tony Sexton, vice president of a Loganville tire company, said the cleanup money is badly needed. He estimated there are three to four million tires "on the ground" in need of cleanup. He said the problem is growing. And more tires along the road, in woods and illegal dumps could help spread West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases.
"We are going to have a serious problem," Sexton said.
He said tire dealers "feel like we're misrepresenting what we're doing" when collecting the $1 fee from customers under the guise of paying for tire disposal and cleanup.
Allie Kelly, senior vice president of the Georgia Conservancy, called it a "bait and switch" for the tire fee to be spent on something other than the Solid Waste Trust Fund cleanups.
"We are in full support of dedicating it for its intended purpose," she said. "Otherwise it's just another tax."
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