Private Garbage Collection Debate Draws Much Interest in Patterson
No decision will be made about whether to privatize all garbage collection in Patterson until next year, but that didn’t stop residents from coming out to express their opposition to the plan at last week’s town board meeting.
After a sanitation subcommittee made up of town board members, and highway and sanitation workers undertook a yearlong study, foundings were discussed Wednesday night at a heated town board meeting that took place in the Patterson recreation center to accommodate the large crowd.
Town Councilmen Shawn Rogan and Peter Dandreano were the two town board members on the sub-committee that explored existing and future sanitation services in town. Sanitation District 1, which is the Putnam Lake community, already has a private garbage hauler and the yearly household charge is on average $191. Sanitation District 2, which is west of Route 22, is the area that is covered by municipal services and the yearly charge for residents on average is $362.
There were three options, Rogan listed: Keep things the way they were, turn the entire town over to a private hauler, or have the entire town serviced by municipal workers, although that last option didn’t seem probable because of the lack of equipment.
Rogan also made clear there is no plan to close the recycling center.
Supervisor Michael Griffin painted a grim picture of the town’s financials. He noted mortgage tax revenue into the new century was between $600,000 and 800,000. Now, that money had dwindled back to the 1994 mark of between $200,000 and $300,000, Griffin said.
Griffin said the last year has been tough financially for the town. One reason for the difficulties was the town needed to start paying for a private ambulance service because volunteers couldn’t keep up with the volume of emergency calls. Since July, the town has paid $21,000 a month to ensure ambulance service everyday. Griffin said the town budgeted $275,000 for the service for next year.
Search for cost savings have been stressed, Griffin said, and privatizing garbage collection is just one of those options. By privatizing garbage, residents would save about $1,000 individually over five years from their fee, and the town overall would save $2.5 million over five years.
“In five years we’re going to be in a negative territory,” Griffin, who is retiring this year, said. “We’re going to be in big trouble.”
He added the town has negotiated with the CSEA Union from the highway department and has reached an impasse. The union asked for $260,000 in wage and benefit increases and the town had asked for as much in concessions, but neither side would budge, Griffin said.
CSEA representative for the town highway department, Phil Capalbo, beat back against Griffin’s assertion, stating the town had 13 pages of concessions and the union had just five. He stressed the list of concessions is more of a wish list than anything else. In the previous contract from three years ago, the union gave back overtime language, agreed to contribute more to healthcare, and gave up vacation schedules for new employees, Capalbo said.
One way to save the town money, Capalbo said is by getting grants for the sanitation department that hadn’t been previously broached. The town could also save money through efficient recycling and new technology.
Capalbo pointed out that while the town can negotiate over costs with the union, it wouldn’t have much leverage against a private carter. The amount of money used for the municipal sanitation department is exactly how much money is needed to run its yearly operation.
The town sent out to bid what the cost of garbage pick-up would be from private carters to get an idea of the cost. While all three are lower than what it cost to operate municipally, Capalbo asserted certain information in the bid process was done incorrectly and resulted in the lower return bids then in actuality.
AAA Carting offered a bid of $169 for each resident for one year, Royal Carting offered $360, and Suburban Carting offered $319.
“I hope when the costs get too high for private carters, you’re able to get them to the town board and say ‘hey the economy stinks and we need give backs, can you help us out,’” he said. “And I’m not sure you’re going to get that help from the private carters.”
Capalbo also said he hopes incoming supervisor Rich Williams sticks with his campaign pledge that he would look for any cost savings over the next year before he opted to turn garbage collection to a private carter.
Residents that spoke generally told the town board they thought any plan to privatize garbage service stunk.
Resident Andy Falk, who ran for Patterson supervisor this year and lost by 17 votes, unloaded on the board for even considering privatizing garbage collection. He asked the residents in attendance to stand up if they supported the sanitation department, which followed by the majority of the crowd rising to their feet.
He said for 55 additional cents each day, residents were willing to pay that to see the town keep its municipal garbage service.
Falk then assailed the town board for discussing ways to save money, even though the board voted to give every member a raise in the 2016 budget, adding he’s “ashamed” of the town board.
“You dipped into our reserves to bring the budget in under the tax cap and when you saw that pile of money on the table, you took it and you stuck it in your pocket,” Falk said.
Resident Ken Harper questioned how the garbage fee residents individually pay is connected to the loss of money in the town’s general fund. Griffin’s retort is that it still affects the tax cap number in what the town can raise in overall taxes because it is not separated by district.
Harper added he’s happy to pay more money for a municipal service because of the more personal service he gets than he would from a private company.
Resident Joe Bellucci said the sanitation workers put a tremendous amount of effort into their job every day. He too, voiced his willingness to pay extra to keep the sanitation department in Patterson.
“I know how hard they work and I know what a job means,” he said. “I know people that have lost jobs and in America, that’s a big thing.”
