Savings seen in $314K buy
By: Dick Brinster
HIGHTSTOWN The borough plans to be back in the trash pickup business next year.
The Borough Council voted unanimously Monday to buy an automated truck and containers for $314,726 from Merkin Equipment of Easton, Pa., and set a public hearing for a bond ordinance to fund the purchase for Feb. 20.
The decision came despite the borough’s ongoing talks aimed at sharing services with Washington and East Windsor townships.
The only area over which there was any debate was the associated hiring of a new Public Works employee, with an estimated annual cost of $41,700 to $63,200.
"I don’t see any down side to this," said Borough Administrator Candace Gallagher. "I think this is a rare opportunity to have a positive impact on the tax rate and I think you should grant it."
The borough, which last picked up its own trash in 1998, currently pays $99,000 annually to Central Jersey Waste. That figure that does not including tipping fees, which Ms. Gallagher has said will cost $189,000 for 2006. The borough’s new three-year contract with Central Jersey can be canceled at the end of the year without penalty.
Ms. Gallagher estimated this week that, based on a 13-year payback on bonds, in-house collection with the so-called one-armed bandit trucks would save the borough $13,550 in the first 13 years and $46,550 thereafter.
Ms. Gallagher repeated this week that Hightstown also might make money as a provider to Roosevelt.
"They structured their contract so they could get out of it and let Hightstown service them," she said.
Councilman Walter Sikorski said that component helped him decide to support the measure. He previously said the proposal was "counterintuitive" at a time when the borough needs to look for shared services agreements with other communities.
Colleague Larry Quattrone also likes the idea.
"If we do work with Roosevelt, it would be icing on the cake," he said.
Mr. Sikorski and Councilmen Dave Schneider and Patrick Thompson applied their own figures against current costs and neither said they could see the borough losing money with in-house service. Mr. Schneider pointed out that the council has been told the containers keep the trash dry, meaning less weight and lower tipping costs.
"The chance of a loss is probably pretty slim, employee or not," Mr. Schneider said.
Mr. Thompson put the annual savings at as little as $5,000 with an extra employee, but said exclusion of that worker needs to be weighed against potential delays in removal of leaves and other services.
"I am personally in favor of looking at ways to save money like this, but am not in favor adding another employee to the Hightstown labor force at this time," he said.
Councilman Schneider said he, too, would like to explore the possibility of not hiring an additional employee.
Councilman Ryan Rosenberg last week said he wouldn’t be comfortable approving in-house trash collection without knowing if East Windsor might be able to share services. He said this week that he voted yes after seeing a recent letter from East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov responding to the borough’s request.
Mike Vanderbeck, chairman of the Economic Development Council and a former member of the council, said he favors the proposal for reasons beyond cost.
"I went out and took a ride through Lawrenceville," he said of a town that uses the modern containers rather than conventional trash cans. "I couldn’t believe how clean those streets were.
"At first, I thought they were just cumbersome, big buckets. But I didn’t see one with garbage on the side or top. It made the town look clean and crisp."
In other business Monday, the council, as expected, approved a four-year police contract, retroactive to Jan. 2006. It also introduced an accompanying salary ordinance, with a public hearing for that set for Feb. 20.
Under terms of the contract, approved by PBA Local 283 in November, officers will see salary increases of 2.5 to 3.5 percent , according to Ms. Gallagher. The 2007 salaries will range from $44,634 to $107,793.
They total about $1.27 million, which is the lion’s share of a draft 2007 budget of about $1.6 million for police-related expenditures.
In other business, the council viewed a presentation from the stepfather of a Hightstown High School student who died last summer from a tainted batch of heroin.
Glenn Johnston, stepfather of the late Brian Landry, told the council there’s a need for an adult-supervised gathering spot in the Hightstown-East Windsor area for teens age 13 to 18. His proposal was warmly received by the council.
"The youth center would be a great thing to have in this town," Councilman Rosenberg said. "I’ve lost two friends to heroin. It’s a terrible thing."
The council also introduced two bond ordinances, for improvements to Morrison Avenue and Outcalt Street, and for water and sewer work throughout town.
The ordinances total $700,000, but the borough would spend only about $191,000, according to Ms. Gallagher.
The ordinance for the street repairs would appropriate $555,000, but about $499,000 would come from a state Department of Transportation grant, she previously explained. Another $10,000 from the capital improvement fund and some grant money would help offset the cost of the water/sewer ordinances, she said.
The water-sewer ordinance appropriated $145,000 and called for the issuance of $85,500 in bonds.
The work on Morrison and Outcalt includes curbs, sidewalks and storm drainage improvements.

