JAY — Selectmen voted Monday to approve a proposed agreement that would allow Livermore Falls residents to bring trash and recyclables to the Jay Transfer Station. The decision is pending legal review of the pact and approval by Livermore Falls voters.

Residents of that town will vote at a special town meeting on whether they want to shut down the Livermore Falls transfer station and take their trash to Jay. The town is looking for ways to reduce a tax rate that could rise $4 per $1,000 of property value. It is expected to save nearly $95,000 in 2009-10.

The meeting begins with a hearing at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the Livermore Falls High School, 

The three-year proposal requires Livermore Falls to pay 24.5 percent of Jay’s tipping fees with that number to be adjusted annually, Livermore Falls Town Manager James Chaousis told Jay selectmen. The town would also relinquish any ownership of recyclables brought to the station by Livermore Falls’ residents. That town would also require residents to follow recycling rules of Jay.

Jay’s station is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Jay Transfer Station coordinator Bob Sanders said Jay handles Livermore Falls’ waste at this time but through a different method. He also said that there would not be more staff required; the current staff would be just a little busier.

Jay Town Manager Ruth Marden said that towns that are serviced by the Jay station pay $20 above the tipping fee Jay is charged to dispose of the trash and an agreement fee.

“Right now we pay $65.71 a ton tipping fee, and the towns we haul for are paying $85.71,” Sanders said. “It cost us $338.84 and we’re collecting $449.60. We make just under $100 profit for each trailer we haul.”

Jay would not provide curbside pickup to Livermore Falls’ residents, he said, as they do for Jay’ residents. “The only thing that would change is delivery,” Sanders said.

Marden said she stressed throughout the drafting of the agreement that Jay cannot subsidize Livermore Falls any more than Livermore Falls can subsidize Jay.

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