-Trash If the DPW is only collecting half the trash as they did before Pay-as-you-throw was implemented, why don't they collect the trash once very two weeks. Half the town one week and half the other. That only requires half the people.
-Still the Greatest Generation The only town department not to ask for more money in an override was the Council on Aging. These seniors are a lesson to us all. These are the taxpayers who suffer more than most when property taxes are raised. Many lived through the Great Depression, World War II, and know a thing or two about communities pulling together and shared sacrifice. Their needs have as much or more claim to our tax dollars as anyone. Their response, "we'll get by , we'll make due, we will find a way", should be humbling to us all.
-No cuts It seems that every current employee and department in town is critically needed. Even things like the Recreation Department can't be cut at all. Reducing employees, who are the reason for a large portion of those "fixed costs" that are eating us up, is not an option.
We have to prioritize our spending, make sure that any spending can be sustained from the tax base without overrides, and restructure, reform, reinvent(or whatever you want to call it) our town government. If nothing else is done but pass an override, we will find ourselves in the same situation a few years from now. The only difference will be that we are broke at a much higher level than today. Better to suffer the pain now and solve the problem than apply the salve of an override and suffer doubly later on.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Other thoughts about the Select Board meeting
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3 comments:
Regarding PAYT. I did hear the numbers for the decrease in solid waste (50%) and the increase in recyclables (40-42%) at the SB meeting. However what I didn't hear was the tonnage for each. Unfortunately public comment was not granted until the end of the meeting and David H. had already left so I couldn't ask the question. As my good friend Bob Michaud would argue, the decreased tonnage for solid waste should equal the increased tonnage in recyclables give or take a little if you consider that some people (5-6%) have opted out of PAYT. I am a firm believer in recycling and I have no problem with PAYT if it encourages people to be more responsible. My question is how much of Dartmouth's trash is going through the PAYT system and how much is going to New Bedford and ending up in our landfill anyway?
The SB has said the program is working based on the percetages but the real questions are how much tonnage is the town actually picking up compared to previous years and does the decrease in solid waste tonnage equal the increase in recyclable tonnage?
Marianne, the rough numbers I have seen say that they don't equal out. We are "missing" about 55 to 75 tons of trash per week. Again these are rough numbers, but recycling is up 25 to 35 tons while trash is down 80 to 100 tons.
Thanks Frank, Next question---How much has the city of New Bedford's tonnage gone up in the same period?
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