Nahant officials talk trash

NAHANT – Town officials have removed the trash fee article from the Town Meeting warrant and added it to the budget article instead.Selectman Lainey Titus said the article – which has been removed from the warrant – merely asked Town Meeting to affirm its acceptance of the trash fee that is already in place.”There are no options outlined in the article. There is nothing to vote on,” Titus said.The existing trash fee charges each household a $160 base fee and the town charges an additional $62 annually for each person in the household.The trash fee has been a controversial subject since last year when the town changed its policy and no longer allowed homeowners to opt of the fee.Selectman Michael Manning suggested discussing the trash fee during the budget article – which residents will be allowed to if they want – instead of including it as a separate article.”The fee includes trash collection at the beaches and parks,” he said. “The trash fee pays for the compost area and it should be part of the budget discussion.”Selectman Richard Lombard added the trash fee was part of the tax rate years ago but residents weren’t happy with that system either.”You could have a person in an expensive home that puts out one little bag of trash every week,” Lombard said. “If the trash fee is part of the property taxes that person would pay a huge amount for trash even though they don’t have much garbage because the fee is based on the value of their property. It’s not fair to seniors in town.”