Nahant residents up in arms over trash bills

NAHANT – As soon as trash bills were received this week, some disgruntled residents started calling Town Hall.Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said he received half a dozen complaints from property owners because the town no longer allows residents to opt out of the town trash collection program.In the past, property owners were able to opt out of the trash fee by informing the town they had another trash removal option in place.That is no longer the case.”The message I hope to convey is the town’s rubbish and trash program is much more than just curbside pickup,” he said. “Other benefits include maintaining the compost area for yard waste, rubbish removal from our parks and beaches, metal recycling on Saturdays and hazardous waste removal programs. These activities benefit all Nahant residents regardless of whether they participate or not in the curbside pickup aspect of the program.”Cullinan said the town cannot operate as an a la carte system.”We can’t manage a municipal government by menu where people can pick and choose what they want to pay for,” he said. “The same logic would extend to why should I pay for schools when I don’t have children, or library costs if I don’t go to the library, or park and beach maintenance efforts if I don’t go to the parks or beaches. If the cost of this program were placed on the real estate bills nobody would be disputing whether they should pay or not.”Cullinan said the bills cover the period from July 1 through June 30, 2011. The annual household base fee is $160 and the town charges an additional $62 annually for each person in the household.”The town has tried to devise the fairest and most equitable system for calculating and distributing the cost of the rubbish and trash program using the theory that the more people in a household the more trash and rubbish will be generated,” he said. “I understand that the economy is tough and people are struggling, but the bottom line is we have a reasonable and successful program that does not cost much if everybody pays their fair share.”Cullinan said the cost for a family of three is $275 a year, which is 75 cents a day.”When you think about it, it’s pretty cheap for all the services we provide,” he said. “I hope we can all agree that the DPW does an excellent job cleaning and raking our beaches and parks and keeping our streets clean while doing our best in protecting the environment through our many recycling and rubbish programs.”There were a couple of residents who contacted Town Hall supporting the decision not to let residents opt out. One resident e-mailed Town Hall supporting the decision after he noticed some property owners were gaming the system.”The trash fees keep going up and up,” he wrote. “I have believed for quite some time it is because so many are under-reporting or using their neighbors’ barrels. In my neighborhood I have personally witnessed on numerous occasions a landlord’s car pull up and put trash in or add to the barrels of a property that is being rented, including furniture, etc. Another person drags her barrel up to the house next door every Thursday night, I would assume with the permission of the rate paying homeowner.”