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Hampton weighs charging businesses as DPW finds commercial trash costs total about $550,084 yearly
Summary
DPW presented a three-year analysis estimating commercial trash collection and disposal costs at roughly $550,084 annually (about 37.8% of total tonnage). The Select Board discussed options—per-container fees, fewer pickup days, outsourcing—and agreed to continue DPW collection while staff explores alternatives.
HAMPTON, N.H. — Directors and board members at the July 13 Select Board meeting examined detailed Department of Public Works data showing commercial trash collection and disposal costs are materially large and may warrant policy changes.
Director Pulliam told the board DPW’s analysis, based on three years of data and an allocation method that estimates commercial tonnage at 37.83% of total, assigns a commercial share of disposal costs of $461,766 and a total estimated commercial-related cost of $550,084 annually. Pulliam broke down incremental items used in the estimate: additional seasonal labor $29,293; extra fuel $8,488; weekday added automated truck/labor $16,424; weekend rear loaders/labor $12,869; and commercial share of vehicle maintenance $50,535. DPW noted the analysis assumes the cart counts and sizes on file are accurate and flagged some data variants.
"Total estimated cost is $550,084," Pulliam said, summarizing the figures. Town Manager James Sullivan told the board, "At its core, this is a policy decision for the community, does the town want cost recovery on commercial or not?" Sullivan noted the data helps frame options but that policy choices — including fee authority and whether decisions require Town Meeting — remain to be determined.
Public commenters urged action. Joe Banforth of the Hampton Citizen Alliance asked the board to direct staff to develop a per-container fee to recover commercial costs. Caroline Gagan and Ed Brackett raised conflict-of-interest concerns related to the commercial trash policy and asked the board to address recusal and ethics enforcement; those allegations were noted during public comment but no formal recusal or investigation was recorded in the meeting.
Board members and staff discussed a range of potential remedies: charging per container to businesses, reducing the number of pickup days, assessing a fee on rooms and meals or parking and dedicating revenue to DPW, transferring service responsibility to the Village District, metering parking and allocating a share to DPW, or outsourcing commercial collection. Several members emphasized manpower constraints in the default budget year and the potential need to augment or outsource services if staffing does not improve.
Chair Carleigh Beriont said the board's consensus was to have DPW continue commercial collection while staff researches outsourcing and other options; TM Sullivan said staff will return with options as the budget process proceeds. No fee or ordinance change was adopted at the meeting; the matter was left at the research and policy-development stage.
Key quantitative points from the DPW presentation (as provided to the board): DPW budgeted for 7,700 tons of waste; the analysis found 7,348 tons. The total town cost for trash pickup presented was $1,888,447; commercial share ($550,084) represents about 29.13% of that total. DPW also noted the analysis excluded public trash barrels and state-collected refuse and that cart-size records include some errors that affect exact allocations.
