By Beth David, Editor
After a discussion lasting about 1 1/2 hours, the Fairhaven Board of Public Works voted 3-2 at its 3/4/24 meeting to institute a $100 trash fee to be collected $25 per quarter. Robert “Hoppy” Hobson, Anne Morton Smith, and Travis Rapoza voted “yes,” while BPW Chairperson Brian Wotton, and BPW member Daniel Lopes voted “no.”
At its last meeting, the board heard from many residents on both sides of the issue.
Town Administrator Angie Lopes Ellison said the town is facing a $2.2 million deficit. Instituting the $100 fee on the approximately 700 properties that have trash pickup by the town, will generate approximately $700,000 in revenue that can be used to close the gap.
BPW Chairperson Brian Wotton reminded people that at the last meeting he promised to find another way to save at least some of the $700,000 that the town was asking public works to generate. But, he explained, those savings would come from money slated for capital expenditures, such as equipment and road work. It will not help with the deficit, which is an ongoing revenue problem. The money needs to come from a recurring revenue source.
Ms. Ellison explained that she has asked all departments to raise fees to help with the deficit. If there is still a shortfall, all departments will be asked to cut their budgets to make up the difference, with the “big four” taking the biggest hits: Schools, Police, Fire, and Public Works.
Discussion mostly focused around who would pay the new trash fee and how much it would be.
For the fee to completely cover the cost of the sanitation contract, the fee would have to be around $140 per household, but the board never seriously considered that number.
Those who have a trash bin will have to pay the fee. Commercial properties and apartment complexes that use a private service for trash will not pay the fee.
People are upset about $100, said Ms. Smith because they believe their tax dollars pay for trash collection. She asked Ms. Ellison if that is no longer true.
“I’m saying we have a 2.2 million dollar deficit,” said Ms. Ellison.
Officials explained that there are several contributing factors to the deficit: The Proposition 2 1/2 override failed last year, which would have added $450K to the budget; money from the cannabis facility that was part of the host community agreement has been taken away, about $300K; inflation is up making everything more expensive.
The town also has a lot of excess capacity a the SEMASS waste-to-energy facility. The town was able to sell that extra capacity to ABC, the town’s former trash removal company. However, ABC was bought out by a larger company, Harvey’s Waste Removal, and they do not need to use the town’s excess capacity. They are able to ship the town’s trash to one of their other facilities.
“So they found other ways that are cheaper than what we were offering,” said Mr. Wotton.
Carolyn Lopes said she appreciated the effort the board made to find other cuts, but at some point the costs need to stop.
“It’s got to stop somewhere because the taxpayers can’t keep paying and paying and paying,” said Ms. Lopes.
In the end, a rather convoluted motion got passed stating that the town would institute the $100 fee starting in the next Fiscal Year (July), to be billed quarterly. They will revisit the fee next year and decide if they want to continue it or change the amount.
Senior citizens who meet income requirements will be able to receive an abatement of half the amount.
Apartment complexes and others that do not have trash collection will also receive an abatement.
Anyone can opt out of the system, but their bins will be taken away and they will have to arrange for another way to dispose of their trash.
Mr. Wotton cautioned that using a private service will undoubtedly be more expensive.
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