Washburn wrestles with trash bill
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
WASHBURN — Councilors spent much of their April 8 meeting discussing payment of the January and February garbage bills. Following Presque Isle’s decision in December to no longer handle hauler payments for several communities using the Pay-As-You-Throw program, including Washburn, towns were effectively left without a contract.
Prior to January, Washburn made payments to the city of Presque Isle, who in turn paid the hauler. Under the PAYT program, Gil’s Sanitation covered Perham, Wade and Washburn, while Star City Sanitation handled Chapman, Castle Hill and Mapleton.
Washburn officials received voter approval in March to discontinue the PAYT program but that left town leaders uncertain as to how to determine what was owed for trash removal for the months of January and February.
At the April meeting, councilors approved payment to Gil’s Sanitation for January garbage pickup in the amount of $8,970. The decision was also made to withhold February payment until Tom Berube, owner of Gil’s, could provide figures for the number of households served for that month. Town officials cited the fact that by February, several property owners in the community were aware the town was likely pulling out of PAYT and therefore had obtained contracts of their own for garbage service, which in turn meant the town would not owe for service to those properties.
“Washburn’s debt appropriation for the closure of the Presque Isle landfill is $23,767, which was approved by voters during the town meeting. It was discussed at that time and voters agreed to withhold payment” to Gil’s until more details on tonnage and the number of households who were actually paying their own garbage bill could be determined, said Town Manager Bev Turner.
Berube said he’d been required to “keep a count of customers for the past two and a half years (since PAYT was implemented) for an established area of pickup.”
“We’ve done that. Come Christmas 2012, we found out the same time Bev did that outside communities would be responsible for paying haulers. I thought at that time everything would remain the same. In January my secretary contacted the Town Office about establishing a contract. Bev indicated it would take a town vote and I’d be notified of the decision,” said Berube.
Turner noted that while Presque Isle’s fiscal year runs January-December, Washburn — since it uses a town meeting format of government — runs February-January, which resulted in a wait before voters could address the garbage issue.
“From what I’ve seen and heard, you want to pay by what I hauled. You’re looking at it wrong; I serviced an area for you, regardless of whether a person put trash out or not,” said Berube.
Berube said if town officials wanted to pay him by customer, they should have notified him the first of the year.
“I would have kept count and we could have gone from there,” he said.
“That was before our town meeting and our meeting with the city of Presque Isle,” said Turner.
“I can see where miscommunication might have been,” said Councilor Fred Thomas. “We knew there were 690 residences in town but there’s been discussion whether or not all 690 were participating and have participated since Day One.”
Discussion continued on the matter, with Turner noting Berube had offered to reduce the February bill to 80 percent of January’s total.
“If we cut 20 percent, that brings us to around $6,146. If you had 75 customers paying instead of using PAYT, at $35 a month, that would be around $2,600. Is there any way we can arrive at a figure in-between that will help solve this,” asked Council Chair Keith Brown.
The issue was debated a bit more, with councilors voting to pay the January bill and requesting Berube to provide additional data on tonnage and customers he had contracts with for the month of February, in order for town officials to have a more accurate total of the amount Washburn owes.
“We thought the year (contracted service with Gil’s, through the PAYT program) would take us through February but it ended in December, leaving us with two months” with no contract, said Brown.
Turner said the voter-approved decision to pull out of PAYT helped reduce the municipal budget and prevented the mil rate from increasing.
“By not paying for curbside, we were able to save taxpayers thousands of dollars,” said Turner, who noted the 2012 budget for trash through Presque Isle’s program was $86,887, which covered payment to Gil’s. “We paid on that monthly, in addition to the debt service.”
In other business, councilors:
• Approved the minutes of the March 19 town meeting, March 19 Council meeting and March 27 special Council meeting;
• Listened to an update on dispatch services, provided by Turner. This year’s fee is approximately $4,491, down from last year’s $8,800;
• Discussed state surplus property, authorizing Turner to pursue information on items the town needs that could be obtained at a fraction of their original costs;
• Reviewed information regarding a radar speed trailer loan, with Turner noting Washburn is at the end of the list but will have access to the unit later this year;
• Received an update from Turner on the proposed ambulance service for Washburn. Turner said she and other Washburn officials were scheduled to meet with Crown Ambulance officials to discuss service options; and
• Listened to the manager’s report, in which the Turner noted a youth group from Vermont had expressed interest in coming to the community this year. She requested ideas for projects the youth could do in the area, with Brown suggesting the Salmon Brook Historical Society as one option.
