Nahant jacks up fees for some town services

NAHANT – The costs of parking stickers and dog licenses remains the same, but the Board of Selectmen approved several increased municipal fees affecting new construction and use of town amenities, including the composting facility, to counter rising municipal costs.”I think we ought to have fees that keep pace with the impact on our services,” said Selectman Michael Manning at the board’s Thursday evening meeting.The majority of discussion concerned the town’s composting facility, where selectmen approved doubling the fees for commercial landscapers to take compost. Local landscaping companies will now pay $2,000 for an initial annual permit, plus $600 to allow each additional truck to get material. Non-residential contractors will pay $4,000 for an initial annual permit, plus $800 for each additional truck. All commercial landscapers must have a minimum of 35 customers in Nahant to use the facilities. Residential use of the facility remains free.Manning said that the increase works out to billing customers approximately $100 per season.”It’s not a large expense in terms of what (landscapers) pass on to customers compared to other costs,” Manning said. He noted that the popular facility incurs significant costs for the town as it must bring in heavy machinery to turn the compost and arrange the piles. He added that he would like to find a way to treat the money raised from the fees as a credit to decrease other taxpayer expenses.The Assessor’s Office will increase copying fees from $.50 to $1 per page and charge $25 for copies of certified abutters lists.The Building Department has increased the maximum amount of a building permit/application from $5,000 to $10,000, based on a fee of $10 per $1,000 worth of work. This makes the town able to collect fees on projects costing between $500,000 and $1 million, Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said.The department also doubled the fee for permits requiring sheet metal, which Cullinan said are used for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units, to $50 for a residential unit and $100 for a commercial property.