The Interlocal Solid Waste Transfer Station Committee met again in a long-running saga, spanning multiple years, with a rotating cast of town managers and select board members from Bethel, Hanover and Newry taking turns at the table.

Bethel Town Manager Sharon Jackson, who has hammered out an updated agreement, is determined to finally finalize the agreement between the three towns at the shared Route 2 transfer station.

Tipping fees

Under the new agreement, Bethel will no longer cover tipping fees for dumpster trash. Currently businesses and residents pay the dumpster rental fee but not the tipping fees. Hanover, with just two dumpsters, has been subsidized by Bethel for tipping fees. Newry has been paying its own tipping fees for businesses but at one time Bethel covered all three towns’ tipping fees.

Jackson asked the committee, “When I checked with some towns at different ends of the state, Bethel is in the minority … Do you want to recommend that the Town continue to pay the tipping fee for what Casella [Waste Management] takes out of the dumpsters? Or do you want to say, ‘we’re not paying that anymore, that’s on the resident or business owner, now?’”

Bethel resident Scott Cole weighed in, “Eighty percent of the trash volume comes from off-site [dumpsters]. If you get the Town out of the middle of it, you could take $321,000 out of your budget, because that’s 80% of what the budget is.”

Bethel representative Frank Del Duca asked for clarification. “Condominiums are not excluded? They would pay a tipping fee, also?”

Jackson confirmed, “Yes they would. If you get a dumpster, the resident or business owner pays for the dumpster, like they do in the rest of the world.”

Jackson and town officials have worked carefully to determine a fair cost allocation based on population and solid waste flow data. She presented preliminary percentages at Tuesday’s meeting and will finalize them after looking at seasonal waste data. The committee will ratify the updated allocation once it is finalized.

Stickers

A grace period beginning now and ending June 1, 2025 will give time for residents in all three towns to purchase a new transfer station sticker. The committee agreed on a $10 fee per auto. Residents will need to present proof of residency at their town office. The license plate number will be recorded on the sticker that should be displayed in the driver’s side window.

A color will be designated to the two-year stickers. Additionally, rental property owners will be given a placard for tenants who need temporary access to the transfer station.

Jackson noted, “I recently witnessed a non-resident purchasing stickers at Bethel Town Office.  Those things happen, that’s why you have to have a system and you have to show you live here. Should we pay for trash being disposed of from all over Oxford Hills? No, we shouldn’t …”

Scale

The three towns will likely share equally in the cost of a new scale and platform, estimated at $90,000.

A similar credit card system already in place for tires will be implemented for weighted waste.

Jackson explained, “Whoever brings in construction debris is going to pay for it … the taxpayer is not going to pay for the contractors’ to bring in their construction debris. That will reduce the amount that we pay for disposal. The user pays, not the tax base.” Jackson has worked with Fryeburg and other towns that have implemented similar scales at their transfer stations.

Additionally, the committee agreed that the cost to use an on-site dumpster will be lower, providing an incentive for people to use dumpsters.

Going forward

The committee voted to keep language in the agreement that reads, “All SWR (Solid Waste and Recycling Board) members shall be registered voters of the towns which they represent.”

New language in the agreement will allow the Bethel Town Manager and the Bethel Public Works director to participate at future annual meetings as non-voters since the transfer station is in Bethel.

Once the committee members sign off electronically, the agreement will be handed over to the select boards for final approval at their February meetings.

After public hearings in each town, residents will vote on the agreement at their town meetings: May for Newry, June for Bethel and October for Hanover.

The edited agreement was first written in 2000 and was supposed to be updated every five years starting in 2005. Now, 25 years later, it may finally be completed.