BETHEL — For the past several years, town officials have talked, but not agreed on what to charge contractors for dumping construction materials at the Bethel Transfer Station. In the meantime, the cost of trash to towns has increased and the contractors still pay the same as everyone else.

According to a Jan. 21, 2021 Bethel Citizen story, talk on charging for construction waste has been going on for years. Additionally, Bethel is one of the few towns in the state that does not charge for construction debris.

In Newry, when a contractor pulls a building permit they have to rent a roll-off. However roll-offs at this point are 6-8 weeks out, said Newry Town Manager Loretta Powers. “they’re not stopping their building [because roll-offs are unavailable], they are bringing trailer after trailer after trailer [of debris to the transfer station].”

In the past, an interlocal committee made up of leaders from Bethel, Newry, and Hanover has not agreed on changes so decisions have been tabled. Bethel selectboard members opposed fee hikes, said Powers and for the past two years, the delegates from Hanover have not even come to the meetings.

On Wednesday, Sep. 13, Powers, Bethel Town Manager Natalie Andrews, and Committee Members, Tink Conkright, of Newry and Frank Del Duca of Bethel (both selectmen) met and resolved one of the sticking points.

Going forward, “Two out of three towns win.” said Andrews. The others agreed that a unanimous vote would no longer be necessary. Andrews had consulted the town attorney who said the change was allowable.

Further, operating and maintenance will be equally shared at  33.3%  for each town. Previously Bethel paid 58%, Newry paid 35%, and Hanover paid 7%.

Disposal fees associated with metals and construction debris will remain proportional to year round populations and valuations: Bethel, 60%, Newry, 30% and Hanover, 10%.  Previously, Newry paid 13% and Bethel paid 77%. Hanover’s proportion has stayed at 10%.

Punch cards?

According to Andrews’ proposed punch card flow chart that she handed around, a renter would pay $10; a rental manager would pay $50 and a contractor would pay $200. Property owners would pay $10 and would renew annually.  Currently the cost of a transfer station sticker is $5 and no renewal is necessary.

“I’ve got issues with punch cards. On the surface it seems like a logical way to go. Implementation gets a little hairy.” said Del Duca. “When you start talking about management companies that are managing properties bringing trash over. That trash was produced by somebody that pays taxes. … The person who is taking the trash that is produced from that location is now paying an additional fee … Where we are running into a problem is contractors who are bringing in an enormous an amount of trash.”

“Partially true, said Powers, But the other portion of this is rental. You’re renting your place. You have a four bedroom home. Fourteen people stay there that weekend and you have 25 bags of trash. That’s what this is going to cover,” said Powers, “Taxes be damned.”

However, both Powers and Del Duca agreed that they don’t have numbers that back up the additional usage. Del Duca said the conversation was hypothetical at this point.

Scale?

“Scales would solve the problem, everybody would have to use them.” said Powers.

Purchasing a 40-foot scale would cost $90,000. This would not include the engineering and foundation construction, she said.

“It’s two scales, its a half a million dollars to do all this,” Del Duca.

The four discussed and agreed that if purchased, a percentage to dump construction debris would likely need to go to capital improvements to pay for the scales.

Powers said the cost of the scales was shot down by Bethel’s selectboard previously and was never taken to the voters of either town.

Would everyone be required to weigh-in or contractors only? Powers said she would call another town to see how they operate their scales.

Charging more

Powers said since purchasing scales would not happen right away they should consider adding a fee to building permits.

She said has talked to contractors who said, “put the fee on the permit “up to $1,000 bucks, $2,000 bucks,”

The committee also talked briefly about the possibility of adding a demolition permit to an updated rate schedule.

Powers said she felt the change they made at this meeting (allowing for a two thirds majority versus a unanimous vote) was positive. She said next up should be changing the regular dump sticker to a yearly renewal. After that they need to work on raising the fees for contractors.

The committee agreed that the fee schedule the Bethel selectboard has been working on updating, could include higher fees for building permits. Any changes would need to be consistent with Newry’s and Hanover’s fees.

Bethel Selectboard’s next fee schedule workshop is not on the calendar yet.

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