LISBON — Some residents at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting said they are against against eliminating the agreement that allows commercial waste disposal companies to take residents’ trash to the transfer station for a $3,000 annual fee.
The Finance Committee has recommended to councilors that the agreement end.
If the town eliminates the agreement, Nick’s Recycling and Richard Plummer and Sons Inc., would have to take residents’ trash to other facilities.
Councilor Raymond Robishaw, who was filling in for Chairman Harry Moore Jr., said the station has been losing money for a few years and the cost of disposal has only increased every year.
Station fees are supposed to pay for trash disposal, while labor and overhead costs are covered by town taxes, Finance Director Samantha Bryant said. The fees do not cover the cost of trash disposal so taxpayers make up the difference, she said.
One possible solution is a “pay as you throw” system, requiring special town disposal bags that can be picked up by commercial haulers and taken to the station, she said.
Councilor Fern Larochelle said he is unsure how councilors can make waste disposal fair and equitable but he supports commercial disposal companies.
Councilor Norm Albert said he does not support the recommendation by the Finance Committee but acknowledged that it would help the station overcome its financial deficit.
Finance Committee member Don Fellows said he believes the committee’s recommendation is a way to get the station to a point where it is at least breaking even.
Though not all residents are able to benefit from commercial services, resident Justine West being one of them, it indirectly benefits everyone to have the service available to those who would otherwise pile up trash on their property, West said.
It was a concern mentioned by others at the meeting.
“Our tax dollars pay for things that we ourselves might not directly use but benefit our community as a whole,” West said.
As a nurse who has worked in in-home health care, Jane Burkhardt said she is concerned that elderly and disabled people who depend on commercial waste hauling services would have no other way to dispose of their trash. She urged them to consider the damage that the recommendation might cause.
“Do you want them to take their wheelchairs and take their walkers and drag their trash all the way to downtown?” she asked. “They can’t drive, how are they going to get there?”
Rebekkah Starbird said there are long wait lines at the station on Saturdays and eliminating commercial haulers would only exacerbate that issue. The same amount of trash will end up at the dump no matter what. It would require more staff and expanded hours of operation, she said.
“The lines would be out the door down to Durham, equally down to Lewiston” she said.
Councilors did not take any action on the issue but did authorize the town manager to divert plastic recyclables to disposal in a landfill.
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