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Council discusses landfill-fee fairness as staff reconciles garbage accounts
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Summary
Council members reviewed billing for landfill fees after staff found some two-can households were charged only one landfill fee; the town plans to send a corrected April total to Econowaste and will follow up on whether to add a second landfill fee to accounts with two cans.
Staff reported discrepancies in the town's garbage-account billing and proposed short-term and longer-term fixes. Maddie (S3) told the council she had reconciled accounts and found some residences with two cans were being charged only one landfill fee. "The issue ... was all those ones of people that have 2 cans are only being charged 1 landfill fee," she said.
Council members discussed immediate bookkeeping corrections and operational steps. S3 said she would send a corrected April total (103 instead of 106) to Econowaste and check individual accounts with unusual fees — for example, one account was billed $18 rather than the expected $23.50. S6 reported driving past neighborhoods and seeing multiple sets of cans; councillors agreed staff should contact residents to add missing cans to bills or retrieve unbilled cans.
Members also discussed adding a second landfill fee for accounts that have two cans, noting the landfill administration fee is approximately $6.50. The group did not adopt a formal ordinance or change the fee structure at the meeting, but agreed to pursue account corrections and to request clearer counts from the vendor invoice process.
Why it matters: Accurate can counts affect resident charges and the town's ability to cover landfill invoicing from Lewiston and its vendor. Council directed staff to reconcile accounts, coordinate with Econowaste and Lewiston invoicing, and follow up on policy implications.
