hard deadlines

The Portsmouth Town Council, on a party-line vote, approved a $100/year fee for transfer station stickers, for both year-round and part-time residents; fee is per household, no extra cost for a second car. Council President Dennis Canario, Jim Seveney, Len Katzman and Bill West, all Democrats, voted in favor. Pete McIntyre and Huck Little (R) opposed, and Tailgunner Gleason "Still a little bit hazy" abstained. Honest to god, she's been on the Council a year now, she voted on the damned budget, and she still can't figure out the fee for the transfer station?

There was a lot of that going around, actually. Pete McIntyre kept poking away at the fee as "switching around" and Huck Little called it "just another reason to get money out of taxpayers." Despite the fact that both of them voted on the budget, and should have been very clear that the $538K cost had been deliberately moved to a fee-for-service to remain under the cap.

"A no vote means that the transfer station would close," explained Councilor Katzman. "We knew that when we adopted the budget."

McIntyre started to respond to that, but was cut off by President Canario. "You go through this Chair," he said.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" yelled McIntyre. "You can't talk to me like that." I can understand Canario's frustration. McIntyre and Little were clearly playing to the cameras, or had genuinely not understood the budget process. Karen Gleason "Where did the revenue go?" had a hard time understanding that when you charge more than zero for something, not everyone will take advantage of it.

Lots of heat, but not a lot of light. And what was up with the PCC? A gold star to whoever can tell me what's behind the PCC's sudden interest in solid waste. They came to the podium with a clearly orchestrated set of comments and a proposal to create a committee to study the issue. (Councilor Gleason took it on herself to invite one of them to join the committee — bypassing the usual process of advertising. Gee, maybe she really hasn't been on the Council long enough to figure these things out...)

Anyway, the bottom line is that come January, there will be a $100 sticker, and tighter enforcement of the rules (it has to be in bags or cans to speed the trip through the station, no limit on number of bags). It still seems cheap and cheerful compared to the painful process that appears to be unfolding just down the road in Middletown. (Hat tip to Eileen Spillane at RITwelfth.)

My take: I think we have a good service at a reasonable price, and actually, by making it a fee instead of a tax, it unbundles the cost so those folks who use private haulers don't have to pay. I think that's actually a plus.

UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader pointed out that the Town Council unanimously approved charging for the sticker and moving the $500K out of tax revenues at the meeting of May 30:

A motion by Mr. Canario, seconded by Mr. Seveney, to tentatively approve Alternative A and the entire revenue page with Transfer fees changed to $500,000. All voted in favor of the motion.
— Portsmouth TC Meeting Minutes

"No excuse for amnesia or flip-flopping," said my anonymous tipster, and I'm inclined to agree. Especially Tailgunner Gleason. Maybe she didn't have enough information on Monday, but she voted for it in May. Was that a mistake?