To the editor:
I am writing about the notice in the Jan. 4, 2012, Aroostook Republican stating, “The town of Woodland will no longer be paying for vehicles to haul their garbage to the Tri-Community Landfill.” This description of the process is not correct. The town has only been paying the landfill for disposal of garbage (household trash), a flat rate of $10 for trash delivered by a car or $20 for trash delivered by a pickup or SUV. The town has not ever paid for the expense of hauling town residents’ garbage to the landfill, only the cost of disposal at the landfill to the landfill. The landfill personnel also verify the residence of each private vehicle upon entry through the numbered window sticker necessary to use the landfill. The vehicle registration is used when purchasing the sticker to verify the town of residence and, if required, billing.
The town of Woodland will continue to pay for garbage disposed at the landfill for Woodland residents who hire commercial haulers to pick up and deliver their trash to the landfill. These residents only pay the commercial haulers for pickup and delivery to the landfill. Each time a commercial hauler uses the landfill, they are weighed in and out and the town billed monthly for the garbage disposed of at the landfill.
This means, in the past, the town has been paying for all household trash disposed of at the landfill, but now will only pay for the household trash deposited if the resident hires a commercial hauler. Is this fair?
About four years ago, the town of Woodland Selectpeople made a similar decision to stop paying for the disposal of garbage hauled by residents to the landfill. I objected to this because I believed their policy discriminated against those residents who chose to haul their own garbage to the landfill. The town decided to continue paying for garbage delivered by commercial haulers. The Selectpeople at this time did reverse their position after a thorough examination of the whole process. Unfortunately, two of these Selectpeople no longer serve and I believe we residents who haul our own garbage have to make sure our current Selectpeople know and understand the entire process and impact.
The rates charged by the Tri-Community Landfill have increased in the past year, but I believe that the decision was made without knowledge of all the facts and process. In addition, I question if the number and how many town residents had landfill stickers was known. I checked with the town office and was told there are about 820 parcels of land where people live. I then checked with the Tri-Community Landfill office and found out there are 76 permits issued to Woodland residents. This change in policy unfairly impacts over 9.3 percent of households needing to dispose of garbage.
If the other 75 people involved see this as an injustice as I do, I strongly encourage you to show up at the February Selectpeople meeting as well as at the next Town Meeting to let your thoughts be known!
Mike Ayers
Woodland
