AUGUSTA – Lewiston’s ability to contract out the operation of its landfill was dealt a serious setback Thursday, threatening to throw the city’s budget into turmoil.
The Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee passed a bill that would temporarily prohibit municipal landfills from taking waste from out of state. Lewiston has a pending agreement with Casella Waste Management to contract out the operations at the city’s landfill and allow the company to import construction and demolition debris.
Money expected from the deal is part of the city’s budget for next year. Without it, there’s a $1.1 million gap.
“It means, basically, I’ve got to go find $1.1 million worth of cuts or the council is going to have to raise taxes. That’s really the bottom line for Lewiston taxpayers,” said City Administrator Jim Bennett, who was in Augusta on Thursday to argue his case.
Now Lewiston is depending on a legislative fix to solve the budget problems. The city is shopping a bill around the State House that would carve out an exemption in state law and allow its deal with Casella to move forward.
As of Thursday, no one had agreed to sponsor the legislation, which faces an uphill fight to make it through the Legislature this session. Before any bill could move forward, it would have to be OK’d by the Legislative Council, which acts as a gatekeeper for new bills introduced late in the session. The bill would then need to be assigned to a committee and a public hearing scheduled.
The Natural Resources Committee would have jurisdiction and could prove to be an unfriendly venue for Lewiston’s deal. Sen. Scott Cowger, D-Hallowell, who chairs the committee, was the sponsor of the ban on out-of-state waste. And while he agreed to allow his bill to sunset in January 2007, he says he’s generally opposed to importing waste into Maine.
“In the short term, I would say no to a project (like Lewiston’s),” Cowger said. “I would only want to see a project like that go forward if it benefits the whole state.”
The sunset provision corresponds to the date that a blue ribbon commission on solid waste is set to deliver its report. The Natural Resources Committee agreed to create the commission just moments before considering the prohibition. Both the commission and the import prohibition must still be approved by the full House and Senate before becoming law.
“Citizens of Lewiston need to understand there will be trucks rolling into the city from out of state to drop waste there,” Cowger said. “I don’t believe the citizens of Lewiston are aware” of what the city is planning.
Elaine Makas, D-Lewiston, also has concerns about allowing Casella to take over the landfill and is uncertain that the city is getting a good deal.
“Even though it’s important to keep property taxes down, I want to make sure people know what they’re getting for the reduction versus what’s going into the landfill,” Makas said. “Is $1.1 million an adequate return for the amount of waste going in? If that’s what people in Lewiston want, OK. But I want to make sure people will know what will happen to the landfill.”
The terms of the deal with Casella would allow the company to process up to 300,000 tons of construction and demolition waste, including waste from out of state, at the Lewiston facility each year.
Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, an influential member of the Natural Resources Committee, said that with about a month left in the legislative session, there’s still time for something to be done.
“For Lewiston, there might be some benefit to a firm running the landfill for Maine purposes and Maine waste,” Martin said. “But rest assured I would scrutinize it very closely. I would do anything I could to help Lewiston, but it cannot include out-of-state waste.”
For his part, Lewiston’s Bennett hasn’t given up.
“A year ago, we had a deal that we entered into. The document was signed. The deal we had before still lives except for the attorney general’s decision that said we couldn’t do it. It effectively could be amended until something else happens,” Bennett said.
Comments are no longer available on this story