Montville holds off on transfer station fee hikes

Montville — The Town Council on Monday held off on overhauling the town’s solid waste regulations, with officials agreeing to revisit proposed fee hikes and potentially hold a public informational session.

Councilor Wills Pike said the town’s solid waste regulations haven’t been substantially updated in almost 30 years, leaving the door open to abuse of the transfer station with relatively low fees — including a $3 one-time-visit fee — and no caps on the number of bags residents can dump at any time.

The proposed regulations bumped the one-time use fee to $15 with a limit of eight bags.

The annual transfer station sticker fee would have increased from $55 to $80 in 2019-2020, followed by $20 increases in each of the next two years. The $45 sticker fee for seniors would have increased to $60 next year, followed by $10 increases each of the next two years.

The updates allowed annual sticker holders to dispose of eight bags per week; each additional bag will cost residents $3.

The new regulations also laid out rules for contractors disposing of waste; made clearer to residents what is and isn’t acceptable at the transfer station; and noted that annual stickers must be permanently affixed on residents’ windshields.

The proposals stemmed in part from a raucous Town Hall debate this summer over the potential implementation of the pay-as-you-throw program designed to boost recycling and cut transfer station costs. Councilors this summer nixed plans for a pay-as-youthrow system and agreed to look at higher fees and bag limits.

But on Monday former mayor Howard “Russ” Beetham told councilors that few in the public were aware a special meeting had been called on the issue.

After spirited debate among councilors — some who felt the proposed fees were too high, others who felt they were a good deal compared to private haulers — councilors agreed to table the changes and send them back to the Public Works/Solid Waste Committee for review in the coming weeks.

Pike argued that many residents have said they’d pay higher rates instead of paying per bag. Councilor Joe Jaskewicz agreed, but said residents weren’t expecting an annual increase over the next few years.

“It looks you did a good job with the regulations. But I thought it was awful quick. I would have liked to see the public more involved,” said Jaskewicz, who along with Councilors Billy Caron and Kathy Pollard pushed for more public discussion on the issue.

Councilor Joe Rogulski argued in favor of the proposed fees, saying that “after decades of improper regulations and improper funding,” the costs of running the transfer station have been passed on to all taxpayers, including many seniors and people on fixed incomes.

“Next year with these fees you’ll be relieving the 60 percent of the population that doesn’t even use the transfer station,” Rogulski said. “This makes it a little bit more fair.”