LEWISTON – Dennis Mason said he was on the fence about a potential deal between the city and Casella Solid Waste over the municipal landfill when he walked into the Multi-Purpose Center’s gymnasium Wednesday night.

“But I haven’t heard the case for this deal,” Mason said toward the end of a public forum on a proposed management contract. The big question for Mason was not how much trash would go into the city landfill if Casella manages it or where the waste comes from.

“What matters most is what happens when this deal runs out,” said Mason, of Webster Street. “Are we taking a valuable resource and frittering it away over 30 years? I understand that there would be tax savings, but $100 less on my tax bill won’t make or break my budget.”

It was the closest anyone attending Wednesday’s forum came to supporting a deal with Casella. At least 180 people attended the gathering. Many were from Lewiston, some were from Auburn and others came from towns with Casella-managed landfills.

They criticized Casella, begged city officials to keep the Lewiston landfill city-managed, and urged against putting the matter on November’s ballot.

“The people here tonight prove it – we don’t need Casella,” said Joseph Roy, of Venise Avenue. “It doesn’t even have to go to a referendum. We just don’t want it.”

City councilors are scheduled to decide at their Sept. 11 meeting whether to send the management deal to the voters on November’s ballot.

At issue is a proposed deal for the city’s landfill. Lewiston would get Casella, a private company, to manage the landfill and pay for future expansions. Casella would get room to expand its New England operation and a station for debris on its way elsewhere.

Casella would pay the city up to $2.5 million the first year, plus a minimum of $800,000 per year in monitoring and host fees. Casella would also take over the KTI Biofuels facility off Plourde Parkway and convert it to a sorting facility for construction and demolition debris within four years.

Based on a city task force’s calculations, the deal would give Lewiston about $47 million over 30 years. That would be enough to take about $100 off the average tax bill.

But it would mean a drastically shorter life for the landfill. Rather than lasting 620 years, the landfill would be full at the end of 30.

City Administrator Jim Bennett said the council will have to decide the fate of the landfill over the next year, regardless of whether the city contracts with Casella. The city has about two years worth of undeveloped room left, and permits for another 12 to 18 years of space. Developing that expansion will cost the city $3 million – unless it deals with Casella. Under the proposed deal, Casella would assume those costs.

But Debbie Gibbs of Elton said the company cannot be trusted. A member of We The People Maine, a group of activists opposed to Casella’s Old Town operation, she said the company has a history of breaking environmental rules, forcing its municipal hosts to sue them.

“You’d be better off spending that $3 million now and developing your landfill yourself,” she said. “You’ll spend a lot more than that in legal fees if you let Casella into your landfill.”