Saugus renegotiates fee for Wheelabrator

SAUGUS – Town Manager Scott Crabtree said his recent renegotiation of the town?s tipping fees with Wheelabrator will save Saugus more than $170,000.?This is great news for the taxpayers and for Saugus,” said Crabtree.Crabtree said the tipping fee, which is what the town pays to Wheelabrator to burn its trash, was set to go up to $77 per ton in July, but he worked with Wheelabrator to reduce it to $62 for the year-and-a-half remaining on the contract.?I felt that was very expensive comparative to other communities,” said Crabtree. “With us being the host community, I approached Wheelabrator and sat down with them and came to an agreement to reopen the contract and was able to negotiate for the town to $62 per ton from July moving forward.”Crabtree said Wheelabrator also agreed that a new five-year contract that would only see a 2 ? percent increase per year in the fee, which is paid quarterly.?For the year-and-a-half, Wheelabrator is going to give us the different between the $77 and the $62 that we renegotiated and that comes out to $171,000 savings for Saugus for this year,” he said. “They?re actually going to give us a check in July for $171,000 ? It helps balance the budget overall, and as numbers change and whatnot, but that?s a receivable as well as moving forward it will be less of an appropriation that we would be making in that line item.”Solid Waste and Recycling Coordinator Lorna Cerbone said the new figure is “fabulous for the town,” and noted Saugus sends about 8,000 tons of trash per year to Wheelabrator to be burned, an amount she said was a “good number” for a town the size of Saugus.?It?s really not a lot for the size of our community,” she said. “We do pretty good ? It shows that we are trying with our recycling. If you break it down to pounds per person, it would be a decent number.”Crabtree also said he?s in the process of negotiating a new contract with trash-hauler JRM that would have them place more barrels around town centers and parks and make regular pickups in places like Cliftondale Square, Saugus Center and the rail trail.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].