JAY – After discussing a proposal to axe curbside waste pickup in town, selectmen and budget committee members decided to let voters have the final say.
An article will appear on the 2010 town meeting in June, asking residents if they want to keep curbside pickup and add $326,800 into the 2010-2011 waste disposal budget. The town’s entire waste disposal operation has undergone a series of alterations recently, with the passing of the former transfer station foreman, Bob Sanders. Highway Foreman John Johnson and Finance Director Lisa Bryant were asked to step in to run the department, instead of filling Sanders’ position.
“I’d like to thank them for stepping up to the plate,” Selectman Stephen McCourt said, “rather than just going out to hire another recycling coordinator right now.”
The budget recommended by both selectmen and budget committee members for waste disposal is $813,635, a roughly $180,000 decrease from the 2009-2010 budget of $993,970. That decrease, mostly in the payroll and benefits lines, is chiefly due to the removal of curbside pickup service, at the request of the selectmen. With that service maintained through the next fiscal year, Johnson said at Monday evening’s budget meeting, the proposed 2010-2011 budget is $1.14 million.
Increases are mostly in the cost of fuel, with current lock-in prices at 80 cents higher than last year’s, and in several lines that Johnson said have repeatedly run in the red in previous years.
Selectmen agreed to have the curbside pickup appear as a separate article, but unanimously issued a recommendation that the article not be passed by residents. The budget committee recommended the curbside pickup article pass, by a vote of five in favor, four opposed and one abstaining.
The $326,800 figure, Johnson calculated, was made up of paying two employees and to operate the equipment associated with the service. It also includes the roughly $70,000 to hire a new, full-time transfer station foreman, as Johnson said that he believed that, workload-wise, the department required an actual administrator if it was going to continue to pick up waste from the curb.
Selectmen said they based their earlier decision to ask Johnson to present a budget without the service, and Monday evening’s decision to recommend not funding curbside pickup, on the difficult economic times and cuts being made elsewhere in town. The Jay School Department, for instance, is proposing a $9.02 million budget, a decrease of nearly $700,000 from the 2009-2010 proposed budget.
“The selectmen have said that the town needs to trim too,” Town Manager Ruth Cushman said.
Selectman Amy Gould noted that Jay is the only town in the state, with fewer than 22,000 people, that has municipal waste pickup. Other selectmen pointed to other nearby communities, such as Wilton, which run waste disposal operations at a fraction of the cost.
Budget committee members and residents in attendance argued that the service was highly valued in Jay, especially for people less able to haul waste to the dump.
Overall, expenditures are down roughly $200,000, mostly in waste disposal. Also discussed at Monday evening’s meeting was the Police Department budget, which is flat for the third year in a row, and the Fire Department budget, which is down $15,000, mostly due to reductions in the capital reserve expenditures thanks to a series of air pack units being fully paid off.
The Highway Department budget is roughly flat, with a $4,000 reduction in expenditures. Selectmen had previously cut 75 hours of overtime, budgeting for 300 hours and saving $13,000. Cushman said she was uncomfortable with the decision.
“I was a little uncomfortable at the time,” Cushman said, “and I’ve been getting more and more uncomfortable as time goes on.”
Johnson said that it was a simple trade-off; less overtime meant that snow removal, the second stage after plowing the roads clear, would get done later in some cases.
“We’re at a place,” he said, “where it’s a trade-off.”
He also noted he was allowed to exceed the winter maintenance budget by up to 20 percent, by law, should 2010-2011 prove a particularly bad winter.
Selectmen and the budget committee will take up all other town departments at tomorrow night’s meeting.
I do not follow the story, sorry.
When you say
“Selectmen agreed to have the curbside pickup appear as a separate article, but unanimously issued a recommendation that the article not be passed by residents. The budget committee recommended the curbside pickup article pass, by a vote of five in favor, four opposed and one abstaining.”
… are the selectman recommending that residents vote against discontinuing curbside service?
The selectpersons recommended the residents vote to discontinue curbside service.