PORTSMOUTH — Repairing the transfer station building on Hedly Street has come with a cost to people who dump their trash there.
The Town Council Monday night voted unanimously to follow Town Administrator Richard Rainer’s recommendation for a $15 increase to the cost of a transfer station sticker for next year.
The current cost of a sticker is $135, but will jump to $150 next year. The current sticker is good for entry at the transfer station until Jan. 31, 2016.
Mr. Rainer said the main reason for the large increase is to pay off the debt service incurred for the recent rebuild of the metal structure at the station, which is about $50,000 a year. In addition, he said, the R.I. Resource and Recovery Corp. looking to increase its tipping fees from $32 to $64 over the next few years.
When the debt service goes down, “that’s when we anticipate the tip fees going up,” said Mr. Rainer.
Despite the increase in the sticker price, the cost of disposing trash in Portsmouth is still lower than that of surrounding communities, or if a resident were to hire a private hauler, Mr. Rainer said.
The annual cost of curbside picket is anywhere from $400 to $500 annually, he said. The Town of Middletown charges $141 and uses a pay-as-you-throw program, he said. The cost of purchasing the necessary bags brings the total cost in Middletown to about $245 per year, and the town offers weekly pickups compared to unlimited runs to the transfer station in Portsmouth, he said.
“Yes, it sounds terrible that you’re getting a $15 increase in your sticker fee, but this is still a hell of a bargain,” Mr. Rainer said.
Local resident Judi Staven said the increase in the sticker fee, however, is a direct result of the town putting Prudence Island fees into the transfer station’s enterprise fund. She strongly suggested that the council take Prudence Island out of the fund and put it back into the operating budget, which would offer greater transparency.
Ms. Staven is a member of the town’s Solid Waste/Recycling Committee but said she was making her remarks as a private citizen. She said she’s afraid that people will seek alternatives to the transfer station if the price of using it gets too high.
“The higher the sticker goes, the less people who use the station,” she said. “Let’s keep it open and try to get it to work properly.”
Council Vice President James Seveney, however, said it was the Solid Waste/Recycling Committee that suggested moving the Prudence fees into the enterprise fund. “Talk to your committee,” she told Ms. Staven. “They’re the ones who said we were doing it wrong.”
Ms. Staven replied that the committee never voted to put Prudence in the enterprise fund.
Mattress recycling
Sanne Kure-Jensen, the town’s new recycling coordinator, did share some good news with the council. She said the increase to the sticker price may seem less painful by June of next year, when a mattress recycling program is expected to be launched statewide.
Currently, it costs an additional $15 to drop off a mattress or box spring at the transfer station. Under the new recycling program, however, residents will be allowed to deposit them at no charge, said Ms. Kure-Jensen.
“If you have a bed to get rid of, save it until then and you’ll justify the sticker increase,” she said.
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