Hopkinton resident Ricky Barnard is content with driving his trash and recyclables to the Hopkinton/Webster Transfer Station a couple of times each month. But would he be interested in the town providing curbside trash pick-up with single-stream recycling?
“I don’t think so,” Barnard said Wednesday afternoon. “Having the transfer station saves the town money, and I don’t want it to turn into a city.”
Barnard and other residents against curbside trash removal can rest easy since the Hopkinton select board decided Monday to not actively pursue a change in the system.
It was the second time the board has considered curbside pick-up since a report by the Solid Waste Disposal Study Committee was presented at the end of 2014. The committee’s findings led it to recommend curbside pick-up, while maintaining the transfer station for disposing other materials, such as appliances, electronics and debris.
Selectman Steve Lux Jr., a proponent of curbside pick-up, brought the discussion back up a couple of weeks ago. He says he has been approached by residents in favor of curbside trash removal since he was elected to the board last year. Unfortunately, he said, not enough of those people made it to Monday’s meeting to voice their support of such a program.
“I still believe, especially talking with a lot of people, doing something like this is certainly more of a benefit than an expense,” Lux said.
But the expense is where opponents take issue. According to the committee’s report (using the 2013 tax rate as a point of reference), adding curbside pick-up and keeping the town’s pay-as-you-throw trash bag program would increase the tax rate about 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a $250,000 home, that would be an increase of about $125 on the homeowner’s taxes. Without the pay-as-you-throw program, it would be an increase of about 67 cents on the tax rate, or about $167 for a $200,000 home.
“I understand Hopkinton has a high tax rate,” Lux said. “Anything higher in terms of the tax rate, nobody wants to hear it. But people are not considering the total out-of-pocket expenses.”
Such expenses – like fuel used driving to the transfer station, paying a trucking service to haul it, and paying for the town’s trash bags – were analyzed in the committee’s report. It concluded that those who pay for a trucking service could save as much as $190 if curbside pick-up were adopted. Those who drive the trash to the transfer station themselves would see their expenses increase by about $58, according to the report.
Tom Congoran, a member of the waste committee who attended Monday’s select board meeting, said the committee’s recommendations were reached unanimously, but “there were several questions at the end.”
“We could never get a real price from the vendor,” Congoran said when reached by phone Wednesday. “While everybody might think we are crazy, it is hard to know because we didn’t get a price.”
Congoran supports the current system, where residents pay for special green bags for their trash. The cost is 75 cents for a 13-gallon bag and $1.25 for a 33-gallon bag, and both are sold in five-bag rolls.
“I think what we have is much better than nothing,” Congoran said. “If the town is willing to go with single stream and curbside, I would be supportive. But I would rather have the pay-by-bag than nothing at all.”
An article on this year’s town warrant calling for the pay-per-bag program to be discontinued was rejected, 169-77.
“I like the sentiment behind the green bags,” said Susan Yonkers, a 25-year Hopkinton resident. But she said it’s “a valid question” to ask why Hopkinton has the pay-per-bag system and Webster does not. For Webster to adopt a pay-per-bag system, it would need to be approved by voters at town meeting.
“I think they’ll iron that out,” Barnard said, adding that he was not in support of the green bags when the program was first rolled out, but has come around since then.
As discussion closed at Monday’s select board meeting, Lux volunteered to continue looking at curbside pick-up rates in other towns across the state. He believes a curbside trash removal program will be better for all residents, especially those with busy schedules and who live across town from the transfer station.
“Visually on paper it’s going to be expensive, and in my position I am concerned about the tax rate,” Lux said. “If you really take the time to look at the program and take into consideration all the costs that would be saved, it just makes more sense.”
But for Lux to see the program that he and the committee got behind go through, he’ll need to find another way to convince residents, like Yonkers.
“If it raises taxes, I’m not interested,” she said.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3314, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)