Select Board Opts For Phased-in Increase For Commercial Haulers

CHATHAM – If you have your rubbish picked up by one of the town’s two commercial trash haulers, expect your bill to go up after June 30.

The rates the haulers pay to dispose of trash at the town’s transfer station will increase July 1. To bring the rates more in line with neighboring communities, the select board last week voted increases in two phases, hiking the current $90 per ton charge to $120 this year and to $150 in 2027.

Public Works Director Rob Faley proposed increasing the rate to $150 this year to generate the revenue necessary to cover the town’s solid waste disposal costs, which sit at $140 per ton. At the current rate the town is losing about $141,000 annually, he said at the March 3 select board meeting.

“What is proposed is the lowest financial alternative to cover the majority of out-of-pocket costs to the town,” he said.

The finance committee backed the increase. Chair Stephen Daniel said it wasn’t “entirely fair” for taxpayers to be subsidizing disposal of waste brought into the transfer station by commercial haulers.

The town’s two commercial haulers understand that the town can’t continue to carry a shortfall and are willing to pull their weight, said Ben Nickerson of Nickerson Disposal.

“We’re not looking to be subsidized at all,” he said. He suggested that the rate increase be phased in and that the town also look at whether residential transfer station sticker fees should be raised.

Graeme Milley of Milley Trucking noted that the local haulers not only provide a service to Chatham residents and businesses, but also contribute to the community. During the recent blizzard, he received a call from the local nursing home, whose dumpster was full but could not be emptied by the out-of-town corporate-owned hauler who usually takes care of the facility’s rubbish. His company delivered a dumpster to the nursing home even though it is not a customer.

His concern is that if fees are raised too high, the two local haulers’ rates will be undercut by the out-of-town corporate haulers.

“I’ve said time and time again, price increases like this will push us beyond corporate pricing and will be detrimental to my business, Ben’s businesses and the lives of my employees, the local businesses who use us and the residents alike,” he said.

“Chatham isn’t a place for Wal-Mart; Chatham isn’t a place for McDonald’s; Chatham isn’t a place for the Dollar Store,” he continued. “So let’s not make it a place where corporate waste management can outperform the local guys.”

It’s been five years since the transfer station rates have been reviewed, noted Chatham Merchants Association board member Kristin Muller. An increase in the per-ton disposal fee will be passed on to residential and business customers, she said.

“If you dump this on small businesses too fast, you put them out of business,” she said, urging the board to spread the increase across several years.

Faley said the department has been able to absorb the shortfall in its budget due to job vacancies, but it is now fully staffed. “We don’t have the capability of absorbing any kind of losses,” he said. Between them, Milley and Nickerson account for 90 percent of 4,000 tons of solid waste brought into the transfer station annually, Faley said, with out-of-town haulers contributing only about 3 percent.

Select board member Cory Metters said the local haulers are an asset to the community and he believed residents and businesses will continue to use their services, even if fees increase. He supported phasing in the per-ton increase to address the operating cost deficit.

“We don’t need to be making money, but we don’t need to be losing money,” he said.

The review of the fees was long overdue and should trigger an examination of other town fees, said board member Stuart Smith.

“This is what happens when we wait five years to address an issue that we knew was happening,” he said, adding that he wanted a legal opinion on whether the town can charge higher rates to out-of-town haulers and nonresidents. 

Currently anyone without a transfer station sticker can pay a per-bag disposal fee, Faley said.

Taxpayers subsidize a number of local industries, including commercial fishing and tourism, said Chair Dean Nicastro. The transfer station provides a benefit to the community by allowing the efficient and orderly disposal of trash and recyclables, he said.

“I think we have to keep in mind that there is a community-wide benefit from this,” he said. There may always be a need for some tax funds to subsidize the operation, he added.

The board voted unanimously to phase in the rate increase. Milley said the $30 per ton increase this July, as well as July 1, 2027, will be passed on to customers, but it is better than the higher one-time increase Faley proposed.

“I hope they remain loyal,” he said of current customers.

The board also approved several other disposal fee increases, including raising the single-stream recycling cost for commercial haulers to $145 per ton, which Faley said will cover the town’s disposal cost of $144 per ton. The cost to dispose of upholstered chairs was raised to $15 each; demolition debris to $225 per ton; mattresses and box springs to $50 each; and sofas to $30 each. The board agreed not to charge for disposal of crib mattresses and fire extinguishers