Economic Vitality Committee Agenda and Packet 2023 02 17

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LL City+�?f . ECONOMIC VITALITY COMMITTEE Lou�sville COLORADO • SINCE 1878 SUBJECT: DISCUSSION/DIRECTION- BAG TAX FUNDED WASTE REDUCTION PROGRAMS PROPOSAL DATE: FEBRUARY 17, 2023 PRESENTED BY: KAYLA BETZOLD, SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATOR AUSTIN BROWN, ECONOMIC VITALITY SPECIALIST SUMMARY: Louisville voters approved Ballot Question 2A, which aims to reduce single -use bag consumption within the community by applying a $0.25 tax on every paper and plastic bag provided to customers by Louisville retailers. Retailers will retain $0.10 of each disposable bag tax collected as a vendor's fee to be used for administration of the tax, such as training staff, improving or altering infrastructure for administration of the tax, and improving infrastructure to increase bag recycling. The remaining $0.15 of each disposable bag tax collected and remitted to the City shall be used only for costs related to administration of the tax or other sustainability-related initiatives and programs. The bag tax went into effect January 1, 2022. DISCUSSION: As of January 31, 2023, $188,020.28 has been collected from the disposable bag tax since it went into effect on January 1, 2022. According to pre -ballot City Council communications, the following expenses were proposed: $60,000 in the first year (2022) for program marketing and training, $25,000 per year for staffing costs related to the administration of the bag tax and related programming, $15,000 per year for low-income resources and $5,000 per year for marketing and outreach. After accounting for these allocations, there is a remaining $138,000 in revenue that can be spent on waste reduction programs. The objective of the bag -tax funded waste reduction programs is to utilize the collected revenue to provide programs and services to the Louisville community that continue to reduce waste in the commercial sector. When the Sustainability division developed the waste programs proposal, staff intended to develop a variety of programs, so that individual businesses are able to choose the program that best suits the needs of the specific business. Each business participating in the bag tax program will have the option to choose one waste reduction program per calendar year and the estimated value of all waste reduction programs are $1,000, so that the value of each program option is comparable to the other program options. Agenda Packet P. 33