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Rhinebeck trustees weigh future of village mulch program after rising costs
Summary
Trustees discussed large staff time and budget shortfalls tied to the village's mulch program and asked staff to explore options including outsourcing grinding, buying a grinder, or limiting distribution.
Trustees discussed whether the Village of Rhinebeck should continue operating its mulch distribution program after several years of operating losses and increasing staff time devoted to deliveries and processing.
Mayor Bassett opened the discussion, saying the program has gone from a small sideline to a major management issue. He reviewed recent annual results and said: “2019, 2020, we only lost $705. 2020, 2021, we lost $10,145. '21, '22, we lost $6,905. 2023, $4,685. 23–24, we only lost $1,135. 24–25, we lost $1,600. Going into 25–26 ... If we don't sell any more mulch, we'll lose $23,810 a year.”
Why it matters: trustees said the program now consumes highway staff time for deliveries (about 96–97 deliveries in the last two years) and requires grinding twice a year because of storage capacity limits. That results in contractor grinding fees the mayor described as about $12,000 per grind plus staff time for taking orders and delivering product.
What trustees asked staff to do - The board did not take a vote to end the program. Instead members asked staff to return with options for changes to program operations, including: (a) contracting with a private grinder/vendor under a radius-based RFP similar to the village's compost RFP; (b) trucking raw brush to a commercial green-waste facility; or (c) purchasing a municipal grinder and continuing in-house processing. Mayor Bassett said he did not yet know whether a private contractor could operate on the village highway-garage site and reported an initial answer of "no" when he asked about using a private operator on that property.
Trustee discussion and preferences - Kyle (Superintendent of Public Works) and others said options should be explored; Kyle previously solicited potential approaches and raised the mower/grinder purchase as one possibility. Trustee Vanessa and others emphasized that any solution should prioritize recycling rather than sending brush to landfill: “it needs to be recycled somehow,” Vanessa said.
Next steps and uncertainties - Trustees asked staff to investigate costs and logistics and return with specific proposals before the next grinding cycle. No formal decision was made, and trustees repeated that brush collection will continue even if the distribution model changes.
Speakers quoted in this report spoke during the agenda item on mulch distribution and are identified in the speaker list below. The discussion included budget figures presented by Mayor Bassett and operational constraints described by highway staff and trustees; the board requested options rather than directing immediate policy change.
