Selectmen grant partial trash fee waiver
Published on July 27th, 2005
In a split 3-2 decision, the Board of Selectmen partially waived the Stoneham Housing Authority's portion of the townwide rubbish fee by granting a $75 reduction for income-qualified residents.
As part of the waiver, the Housing Authority now has to implement a recycling program, an action already required by law, for its 290 tenants.
According to Housing Authority Chairman Vincent Orsillo, who urged the Selectmen to completely eradicate the garbage costs for the dwelling units, his department simply couldn't afford the fees.
Adding that 209 of the authority's tenants were senior citizens, and 72 residents were disabled veterans, Orsillo claimed that while the rents for the apartments could not be raised, the majority of the authority's financially-limited population would suffer as a result of decreased services.
"We're not saying there's not a crunch here [in Stoneham]. We're just saying we have no money to fall back on. We're not like a condo, we can't raise the rents. We're controlled by the state," said Orsillo.
While willing to give a partial $50 break to the Housing Authority for the trash fees, Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello believed that anything more was unfair given the fact that non-profit organizations such as churches were also forced to pay the new rubbish costs.
In addition, the seventh-term Selectman - who motioned for a $50 waiver but voted against an amendment to increase that reduction to $75 - argued that it was the state of Massachusetts' responsibility to cover the cost of the fees.
"We're not helping the people who are living there [with a waiver]. We're helping the state. They're supposed to be subsidizing these houses," Ciccarello remarked.
"I can honestly see giving you some type of a discount. but you have to realize that everybody is paying for this. The churches are paying for it. Non-profits are paying for it. Everybody has to pay their fair share," the Selectman later said.
Unsuccessfully lobbying against any type of price-break, DPW Director Bob Grover presented revenue estimates that already showed the trash fee program running a $75,000 deficit.
Specifically, the DPW Director explained that 900 condominiums had opted out of paying the fees by the July deadline by settling a private agreement with Hiltz, the same company that disposes garbage for the town.
And with the town only planning on 450 such opt outs, the revenue predictions for the trash program were thrown out of whack.
Grover further predicted that if the Selectman were to extend this exception to the housing authority, a whole slew of people dealing with similar inequities with the trash program would request a waiver.
"You'll be getting calls, and I'm already getting them now, from people that say, 'I have a two-family and I'm not renting it; I have a three-family and I'm not renting it'," the DPW Director warned.
"Some people live in Florida for six-months and they want an abatement too. There are all sorts of inequities in the trash fees. Was the trash fee implemented late? Yes, it was. But what other recourse did the town have?"
According to Wright Street resident Jennifer McGrath, who did not attend Tuesday's meeting, she is one of the residents being unfairly assessed garbage fees.
Specifically, McGrath owns a two-family home and is currently being charged $300 in garbage fees, twice the regular fee because of her home is zoned as two-units.
The only problem, says McGrath, is that she hasn't rented out the upper portion for years, as her growing family took over the space to provide bedrooms for 14-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son.
"I'm not happy about it, but I'm more than willing to pay more fair share of $150. But it's so unfair that we're being double charged. I've talked to so many people about this, and what they've said is, 'I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do'," McGrath said in a telephone interview.
"It's a matter of principal that we shouldn't pay double just because we're zoned as a two-family. I think they should have planned for this possibility, and even if they didn't, when I called, there should have been some type of waiver," the Wright Street resident added.
According to Ciccarello, who recalls speaking to several residents facing the same problems, he initially thought that the fees would be waived by those administering the trash fee program.
But given the number of inequities in the program - which he vowed to vote against restoring next year - the only solution he sees is for residents like the McGraths to rezone their house to a one-family.
"I've spoken to [Town Administrator Ron Florino] about this. I want Ron to give them an abatement, but right now, it's hard to prove whether it's actually being rented out," said Ciccarello.
"The only thing they could do is rezone it to a one family. But that's crazy, a two-family is worth a lot more than a one family. I don't know what to say. I made a mistake in voting for this, and I'm hoping right now that next year, we don't have a rubbish fee."
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