Communities such as Chicopee, Holyoke, West Springfield and Agawam do not charge a fee for trash.
Clockwise from top left: A Belchertown resident tosses a an orange "pay-as-you-throw" trash bag at the town's transfer station; Chicopee DPW personnel pick up trash at a residence; Springfield garbage and recycling containers.As communities across Western Massachusetts struggle with the cost of trash collection and disposal, the strategies range from those communities that cover costs with property taxes to those that levy annual fees and per-bag charges.
In Springfield, the issue is as hot as a mid-summer day as city officials have debated recently if the current flat fee of $75 per year per barrel should rise by $15.
While proponents of the increase have argued that the current fee is too low, falling far short of the city’s trash collection costs, opponents say the fee itself is a tax and that trash collection should be among the myriad of city services covered through property taxes.
They point to cities such as Chicopee, Holyoke, Agawam and West Springfield that provide curbside collection at no charge, sometimes referred to as “free” trash collection.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said trash is anything but free.
Trash collection and disposal costs approximately $10.4 million annually in Springfield, including $6.5 million covered by general funds including property taxes, and nearly $4 million by the trash fee, according to city estimates.
“It’s a budget buster,” Sarno said last week. “We are going to continue to try to be fair and look for cost-effective ways to manage trash refuse. Unfortunately, it’s an issue other cities and towns are going to face or are facing.”
Springfield charged no fee for trash until July 2007, when a $90 annual fee was established by the former state-imposed Finance Control Board. The board was established in 2004 to restore the city to fiscal stability.
Sarno, as a first-time candidate for mayor in 2007, repeatedly criticized the trash fee as an added tax and burden on homeowners and said he would eliminate it. However, upon election, Sarno joined the control board in keeping the fee in place, saying he realized it was not financially feasible to eliminate the fee.
Sarno did reduce the fee twice during his first four years in office, reducing it to the current $75 fee, but said he was forced by the city’s financial hardships in proposing a $10 increase this year, to reduce the tax subsidy of the program.
The City Council is considering a $15 increase instead, with the added $5 intended to help reopen three closed library branches in Springfield.
The council will consider a second-step vote on the fee increase Monday, and final consideration at a future special meeting, officials said.
Sarno said that whether you build the fee into the municipal tax bill, or impose charges, “it’s just the cost of doing business.”
In Chicopee, Michael D. Bissonnette said there is no fee charged for trash collection, and there is no consideration of charging the fees.
Chicopee is a host community to a private landfill operated by Waste Management. As a result, the city can dump all trash there at a reduced cost that is passed on to residents, Bissonnette said.
“Our actual disposal costs are very minimal and our sanitation budget is for personnel and equipment,” Bissonnette said. “It is estimated that without such an agreement, our sanitation costs would be an additional $3-4 million per year.”
In addition, the city has stepped up its recycling efforts and improved its system to help extend the life of the landfill and continue to save the city money, Bissonnette said.
In Belchertown, the system of charging an annual fee and a per bag charge has been in place and is working well, according the Public Works Director Steven J. Williams.
“It does operate in the black and our revenues cover expenses,” Williams said.
There are approximately 1,600 users, representing 20 percent of the town’s residences, Williams said. The revenues versus expenses are reviewed annually to see if adjustments need to be made.
Last year, the fee for large trash bags was raised 25 cents, but the sticker price (annual trash fee) remained the same.
In Springfield, the city’s Chief Administrative and Financial Officer Lee C. Erdmann proposed that the trash fee rise by as much as $29 a year for five consecutive years.
The suggested increase of $29, rejected by the council, would have raised the fee to $220 by 2017, at which time trash services would be essentially self-funded, Erdmann said.
Sarno said he would “find it difficult in an urban setting” to ever favor such a large increase in the trash fee. In addition, he has included a discount for senior citizen homeowners since the fee was established.
Improvements in recycling, including the city’s single stream recycling program where all recyclables are placed by homeowners in a single large barrel, have helped to reduce trash costs and increase revenue, Sarno said.
The city will also begin to see lower rates charged for disposal, beginning in 2014, as negotiated, Sarno said.
Staff reporters Jeanette Deforge, Lori Stabile, Fred Contrada, Diane Lederman, Ted LaBorde, Sandra Constantine, Mike Plaisance and Elizabeth Roman contributed to this report.