Town fathers wholly support garbage fee
Published on March 16th, 2005
STONEHAM, MA - In a surprising consensus, the town's Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday night to institute a new garbage fee that will be tacked quarterly onto citizens' water bills.
Structured differently than the $183 per unit flat fee pitched by DPW Director Bob Grover during a public hearing last Wednesday, the new trash costs - which are projected to raise $924,935 for the FY06 budget - would be charged at a staggered rate for different residential dwellings. Specifically, the annual costs for Stonehamites would be as follows:
One family homes: $150
Condominiums: $150
Two family homes: $225
Three family homes: $300
4-6 family homes: $450
Addressing the most common criticisms of Town Administrator Ron Florino's FY06 budget proposal, the approximate $925,000 in new revenue would bolster funding to the slashed operations of the school, police, fire, and DPW departments.
The revenue generated from the proposal would also be slated to restore nearly $280,000 to the stabilization fund, a savings account depleted by 83 percent in Florino's proposal after the Town Administrator used $750,000 to offset the FY06 deficit.
Although the school department potentially stands to receive as much as $460,000 of the tax revenues released by the garbage costs - a figure close to the $500,000 needed to avert closing the Middle School next year - the School Committee declined voting this Tuesday to take that option off the table.
And while that non-action appears to fly in the face of comments about the potential shutdown made last Wednesday by School Committee Chairwoman Cheryl Walsh, Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly hinted that the Middle School closing will be rejected at this Thursday's School Committee meeting.
"I don't want to say if [we close the Middle School down], I want to say we can't. We need to find a better way to jointly balance the budget," Walsh had remarked at last Wednesday's tri-board meeting.
Besides the $279,000 for the stabilization account and the $460,000 for the schools, the following departments would also benefit from the garbage fees:
Police Department: $50,000
Fire Department: $50,000
Public Library: $25,573
Public Works: $40,000
Senior Center: $20,000
In a passionate but somewhat one-sided presentation on the garbage fees, Finance Board Vice-Chairman John Warren wholeheartedly endorsed imposing the costs, arguing that the majority of Stoneham citizens would favor the new expenses if it resulted in the restoration of public safety and educational services.
However, the long-time Finance Board member, who remarked last summer that some type of override or new revenue source would need to be tapped to offset this year's deficit, sternly warned the Selectmen that the trash fees would not solve the reoccurring fiscal woes Stoneham has faced over the past few fiscal years.
"The feeling of the Finance and Advisory Board is that the FY06 budget does not adequately support public safety and education. [The cuts] may not need to be extreme as they are right now," said Warren. "No single solution solves this budget problem. And the community should expect nothing less than the extreme [from town officials in finding new revenue sources for next year]."
Disputing the Finance Board member's assertion that the town's homeowners preferred to pay a trash fee rather than see further reductions to public safety and education, Beacon Street resident Darin Leahy challenged the Selectmen to convene a Special Town Meeting, letting the townspeople decide for themselves how they felt about more fees.
Agreeing with Leahy, Stoneham Taxpayer's Association member Peter D'Angelo insinuated that the trash fee circumvented proposition 2 1/2 and in fact amounted to a tax increase imposed without citizen approval. With that in mind, D'Angelo promised that if the fees were extended beyond a one-year period, his citizen advocacy group would place the measure on a non-binding referendum ballot question.
"Mr. Warren alluded to the community feels this, the community feels that. Well let the community decide how they feel," Leahy commented. "I'm not going to argue for or against a trash fee. I just want to point out recent history. Two or three weeks ago, we were talking about a debt exclusion and the saying was, 'bring it to the people, bring it to the people.'"
Yet for every person arguing both last Wednesday and this Tuesday against a trash fee, three other citizens stepped forward and urged the Selectmen to approve the measure. Hammering the Selectmen last Wednesday for the proposed shutdown to the middle school, MacArthur Road resident Susan O'neil accused the board of neglecting their oaths of office.
"I remind the Selectmen, you were voted in by the people, and as such, took an oath of office to represent all the townspeople, including the children. I speak this evening to make it clear that as parents, we would be remiss to sit back, with all these devastating cuts to be made, without speaking for the youth of the town," O'neil said to the thundering standing ovation of audience members.
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