LAWRENCE: Bulk trash fee OK’d by council

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Despite stiff opposition from township residents, Township Council unanimously approved an ordinance creating a new fee for the collection of bulk trash that will be assessed against all property owners whose trash is collected curbside.
   More than a dozen township residents chastised Township Council Tuesday night and said that instituting a new fee to pick up appliances and bulky items that won’t fit inside the blue trash carts is a bad idea. They were among the 50-plus members of the audience at the council’s last meeting of the year.
   The ordinance sets a range of zero to $55 for the fee, which would be set by Township Council annually. Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun suggested that the fee for 2013 would be around $20 or $25. It would be billed separately from the property tax bill.
   When one resident challenged the fee as an expansion of government, Mr. Krawczun replied that it is not an expansion and that it is a way to pay for an existing service provided by the Lawrence Township Department of Public Works and the contracted trash hauler.
   The Department of Public Works picks up “white goods” — appliances — once a week from residents who call for an appointment. There is a cost to the township to remove freon from refrigerators and air conditioners, but the fee will help to offset that cost, Mr. Krawczun said.
   The trash hauler picks up bulky items, such as furniture, along with the contents in the blue trash carts. If that service is eliminated from the trash hauler’s contract, residents would have to find a way to get rid of the couches and other bulky items they want to discard, he said.
   Mr. Krawczun acknowledged that the “obvious disadvantage” to the bulk collection fee ordinance is that it likely won’t be used by every resident. But the other option — to implement a sticker system, which requires residents to buy a sticker for each item to be tossed — would also be costly because of the need to hire someone to monitor the program, he said.
   Many township residents dismissed the suggestion that it would be difficult to dispose of old furniture and other items, pointing out that most stores will pick up the discarded appliances or furniture when they deliver the new items.
   Some of the objectors suggested that the bulk collection fee is a replacement for an earlier proposal, which would have eliminated trash collection from the municipal budget and replaced it with a trash collection fee. That plan grew out of a referendum — which was defeated — to raise the municipal property tax rate by an additional 9 cents, over the 5-cent increase included in the 2012 municipal budget.
   Nick Sferra said the bulk collection fee “seems like a back door way” to get around a 2-percent cap on municipal property tax rate increases. He said he is already paying taxes and now “all of a sudden, it’s going to cost more money,” adding that he objected to paying for a service that he likely will not use.
   ”It’s nickel-and-dime stuff. My taxes have doubled, but my salary has not. We just can’t take this anymore. I’m speaking for the people here (in the Council Chambers), to put it bluntly, you are killing us,” Mr. Sferra said.
   Maria Delaney said that her family has reduced its cable-TV bill to cut expenses, and now the family has to find money to pay for their daughter’s college tuition. The family has made compromises, she said, adding that “we just don’t have (the money)” for another fee or tax.
   Scott Bentivegna said he was “very disappointed” to learn that Township Council was seeking an additional fee. The elected officials are supposed to carry out the will of the people, who made it “pretty clear” that they were not interested in another fee when the referendum was voted down in April, he said.
   Township Council must learn to live within its means, Tom Morris said. Everyone has extra bills to pay, he said, and it’s not possible to ask one’s employer for more money to pay for those bills, he said. The council can’t keep coming back to the taxpayers if it can’t live within its means, he added.
   What troubles him most about the ordinance, Marvin Vanhise told the council, is how township officials will set the annual fee. The bulk items go into the landfill with the rest of the household trash and there does not appear to be a way to break out that cost, he said, adding that “(you) can’t tell me what the cost is, because (you) don’t know what the cost is.”
   Max Ramos told Township Council that enacting a $55 bulk pickup fee translates into a 3.8-percent tax that the council can approve on top of all other taxes. He called the council to look to cut perks such as longevity pay, which is given to Lawrence Township employees after a specified number of years of employment.
   ”I’m asking you to vote ‘no’ (on the bulk collection fee ordinance),” Mr. Ramos said, adding that otherwise, “this is the Township Council that will be known for jacking up” the property owners’ municipal property taxes.
   Nevertheless, Township Council voted unanimously to approve the bulk collection fee ordinance.