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Town to roll out new solid‑waste carts in March; staff to study in‑house collection options
Summary
Public Works said new resident carts will be distributed around mid‑March, eliminating current leased-cart costs; staff will monitor savings and analyze whether to move toward town‑run solid‑waste collection while keeping the solid‑waste fee under annual review.
Public Works Director John Young told council the town will roll out new residential solid‑waste carts in mid‑March and has one of each cart available for council or staff to inspect. The new carts will replace leased carts and, staff said, should reduce recurring sanitation lease costs once implemented.
John and finance staff said the town will monitor the program after rollout and study whether providing sanitation services in‑house would be cost‑neutral or beneficial. John said any move to in‑house collection would be brought to the council: “If we do solid waste in house would would be a revenue neutral at a minimum,” he said, adding that nominal changes to resident fees might be proposed if the town can improve service.
Councilmember questions focused on how the added monthly solid‑waste fee is being used and whether savings would be returned to residents. Finance staff said Draft 2 is where fees and revenues will be fully itemized and where changes to fee levels could be proposed. During the meeting a council member cited the current solid‑waste fee revenue figure as $840,000 (attributed in the transcript to a staff comment); staff said the fee revenue is carried in the draft budget and will be re‑examined at Draft 2.
John said the administration’s initial analysis estimates a roughly three‑year payback on the capital investment to acquire carts (i.e., lease savings would offset purchase cost in about three years). He said staff will also analyze phased or partial in‑house approaches (for example, starting with bulk pickup) rather than an all‑or‑nothing change.
The council requested that any savings identified during the implementation be considered for passing back to residents; staff acknowledged the request and said it will be noted for future budget discussions.
