Selectmen discuss trash referendum
Published on September 14th, 2005
Although not guaranteed by a formal vote, a Board of Selectmen majority consented Tuesday night to a request that a non-binding referendum be placed before Stoneham citizens on the question of trash fees.
According to Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello - who has repeatedly vowed to vote against extending the $150 trash fee into FY07 - the board needed to decide whether or not the resident-costs would be restored.
"I placed this on the agenda because hopefully by January, the Town Administrator is going to give us a budget. And by then, the Town Administrator has to give us a budget with the $800,000 or without the $800,000," Ciccarello said.
"Personally, I'd like to go without it and see just how devastating it really is," the seven-term Selectman added. "It's the wrong type of tax. You can't even write it off. We'd be better off going for a debt-exclusion or an override."
While the Selectmen agreed with Ciccarello and directed Town Administrator Ron Florino to draft a budget without the fees, Selectman Tony Kennedy claimed the decision did not constitute an end to the costs.
"I think it's important to understand that if we take a vote to do that [create a budget without the trash fee], we're not eliminating the trash fee tonight. We're just taking a look at a budget without it."
Making it clear that he opposed the $150 per unit fee, Peter D'Angelo, a former town official and member of the Stoneham Taxpayers Association, claimed that the town had not done enough to address the reoccurring structural budget problems leading to financial deficits.
Suggesting that lack of progress in turn warranted eliminating the garbage fees, D'Angelo reminded the Selectmen of their comments made last year when first imposing the new citizen expenses.
"When the trash fee was approved, there was a decision to approve that, in essence, for one year. And the basis for that [reinstituting the costs] was whether or not the town had taken steps to reduce expenses," said D'Angelo.
"What I would like to ask the board is, 'can we put this on the ballot as a non-binding referendum?' If the vote is clear or substantial in one-way, then you have a direction," D'Angelo requested, as at least three Selectmen murmured, "I wouldn't be opposed to that" in response.
According to Town Counsel Bill Solomon, he needed to study the rules governing non-binding referendum questions - which would still leave the ultimate decision in the Selectmen's hands, regardless of the vote's outcome.
However, the attorney believed that any such ballot question should include language emphasizing that the citizen vote on the measure was being conducted because it's a "unique issue".
"The only thing with this referendum is that it could create a pendulum. I think it's important to put that because this is such a unique issue, we're allowing the referendum," Solomon said, feeling that without doing so, citizens would ask for a ballot question every time they disagreed with an executive decision.
Dissenting with D'Angelo's successful request, Stoneham resident Darin Leahy argued against a ballot question, believing that doing so would give the Selectmen an "out".
Specifically, Leahy - singling out and grilling first-term Selectmen John DePinto and George Seibold - claimed that several board members agreed to trash the garbage fee for the upcoming year if significant progress hadn't been made in addressing the town's major reoccurring revenue and expense issues.
"I respectfully disagree with Peter. And this is why: This gives you a way out of this trash fee. Can you explain what reforms you've seen that would [convince you] to vote for a trash fee?" Leahy asked.
According to both DePinto and Seibold, if forced to vote this Tuesday night, they would not agree to reinstituting the rubbish costs for another year. However, DePinto also pointed out that until upcoming contract negotiations with Stoneham's municipal unions have concluded, he couldn't say whether the reforms he was looking for had been instituted.
"I can't say 'yes' or 'no' [as to whether things have changed since the trash fees were instituted]. But I did say unless I see reform, I wouldn't vote for a trash fee. That's a fact," DePinto responded, not shying away from Leahy's pointed questioning and reiterating his stance.
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