The Brattleboro Selectboard again discussed cutting trash service at Tuesday’s meeting, giving the general public their first prime-time opportunity to weigh in. The verdict among speakers at the meeting was nearly unanimous — almost no one wanted trash pick-up privatized, even if it did mean a minor reduction in taxes. For many, the tax reduction would actually be less than the amount it would cost to have their trash hauled away. According to Town Manager Barb Sondag, their estimates showed that the owner-occupant of a $200,000 house would end up paying an additional $330 a year once their new private trash hauling contract was factored in.

Supporters of the proposal on the Selectboard hung tough with John Allen continuing to lead the way in advocating for the plan. He said that if he could reduce people’s taxes by eliminating trash service, he would feel good. Corum and DeGray also weighed in with mild statements of support. Only O’Connor was mum on the plan. Meanwhile, public opposition got off to an early start when Ian Kiehle of Brattleboro performed a bit of political street theater in the Selectboard meeting room to make his point.

The meeting began with an ice storm update from Barbara Sondag. She said that only about 150 homes in Brattleboro were without power as of Tuesday and that they were expected to have it back within the next day or so. She said that the sheer breadth of the storm damage regionwide made it hard to fix, and that restoring power was proving to be slower than many would like. But she said, residents were doing ok even without power, stressing to any who might not have gotten the message that it is a good idea to have some emergency supplies on hand just in case. The weather report has been iffy lately, and it’s possible more people might lose (or re-lose) power as tree limbs broken in the ice storm are brought down by heavy snow. Sondag reminded people of the importance of a battery-operated radio and said to tune into WTSA in the event of an emergency.

Board Chair Dick DeGray asked again that people donate to local charities including his own favorites Project Feed The Thousands and the Reformer Christmas Stocking. He said that the Christmas Stocking still had $60,000 to raise but that he was hopeful they would reach their goal by Christmas Day. He also thanked everyone for the spirit of community and volunteerism that has been in evidence both in holiday charity efforts and the aftermath of the recent storm.

Town planner Sarah Brennan reminded folks that the Planning Department is forming a Town Plan Advisory Group to participate in formulation of the new town plan. The group will help set goals, do outreach, and review drafts of the town plan. Meetings will be held roughly every two months for two years. She asked interested persons to send a letter of interest to the Planning Department for possible appointment to this group.

The Town’s intervenor status in the VY relicensing matter came up for discussion during Public Participation, with a number of citizens rising to speak. All were in favor of the Selectboard calling a public hearing on the matter so the public could weigh in on VY relicensing. DeGray said that “there was no support for a public hearing in executive session.” Garant said there was, implying that he had supported it. DeGray said that wasn’t true. DeGray said he was not in favor of granting a public hearing on the VY issue. Garant was strongly in favor and made a motion to calling for a public hearing to be held in the first couple weeks of January. After some debate as to the legality of his motion, the motion was voted down by a resounding 4-1, with only Garant in support.

Citizens in favor of the public hearing felt that the issue of VY relicensing was of such vital importance to the town that townspeople and not just the Selectboard should be allowed to have input. By way of rationale in refusing the hearing, DeGray said, as he has said before, that if they held a public hearing, it would be “50 people saying this and 50 people saying that, and I’d hear nothing I haven’t heard before.” He said the opportunity for the public to weigh in would be at the January 6 Selectboard meeting, where it would appear as a regular agenda item.

At least one member of the public rebutted DeGray’s logic, saying that if while there might not have been support for the hearing among Selectboard members in executive session, there was plenty of support among citizens and they should be heeded. Nonetheless, the Selectboard moved on.

The Selectboard then convened as Liquor Commissioners where it approved an outdoor entertainment license for a band to perform as part of a Drop In Center fundraiser. The Christmas Tree Band will be performing downtown this Saturday for benefit of the Center.

The monthly financial report got to Selectboard members a bit late this month, leading them to ask for a two week reprieve while they digested its contents. They’ll be back with questions at the January 6 meeting. However, one tidbit forthcoming was that the area has been declared a state disaster area, qualifying the town for some funds to recoup added expenses from the ice storm.

Martha O’Connor said that in her opinion, she understood that the storm would trigger unanticipated expenses, and that the Town had performed well during the storm, doing what needed to be done.

Andrea Livermore and Dan Yates of Building A Better Brattleboro were on hand to present next year’s budget and work plan to the Selectboard for approval. The special tax assessment to downtown property owners remains the same for the third year, as Livermore said this was not the economic climate in which to ask for an increase. That accounts for $80,000 of their budget which is up 17% over last year with funding and revenue from other sources.

The work plan, which is comprehensive and highly committee-driven, is based around a basic mission of getting “feet on the street” or more to the point, customers in the stores and businesses downtown. They have plans to improve their web site, do some market research including zip code surveys, and market downtown more effectively to both local and out-of-town visitors.

Livermore said it all runs on volunteers and urged interested people to get in touch or visit the web site for more info. The Selectboard approved both the budget and the work plan with little comment. There were however, suggestions from the audience including one to apply gold leaf to the “rusty spots” on the facade. The same person also said that she would like to see a barter collective or swap meet held in the River Garden periodically. Livermore thanked her for her suggestion and referred her to Tim Stephenson of Post Oil Solutions who is responsible for the Winter Farmer’s Market.

Sean Donovan of the engineering firm managing the TriPark water and sewer upgrade gave an update. Contract 1 is doing pretty well, at around 40% completion. Contract 2 is doing really well, with 10 homes hooked up to water and sewer and another 68 connected to water. He said that by next summer, both contracts will be completed and all homes in the park will have both water and sewer connections. He also asked that approximately $70,000 be released from contingency funds to cover change orders to the original contracts for drainage improvements, new culverts, and pump station roof work. DeGray said he distrusted change orders but acknowledged that this one seemed necessary. The board approved the change orders 5-0.

The board then turned to the Fiscal 2010 budget and more specifically, to be or not to be a town that provides trash service. Barb Sondag again made the case for cutting some if not all trash service to town residents and presented the four options. She said cutting trash service would reduce the budget and lower taxes. She said that in her opinion, the town was at the point where services had to be cut as staff and expenses had already been cut to the bone.

As Sondag completed her presentation, Ian Kiehle of Brattleboro rushed in, carrying four large trash bags. The bags appeared to be stuffed wtih newspaper and had a large notice attached to them that read “Ending trash pickup — penny wise, pound foolish.” DeGray immediately called a recess while Ian made his way out of the room. Sondag said later in the meeting that the bags had been stuffed with recyclables, thus proving her point that people could reduce trash by recycling more....

There was considerable discussion of Spoon Agave’s idea for an enterprise fund for trash. DeGray was against this idea from the start, and Sondag and Finance Director John Leisenring both said that it would not achieve the results intended. DeGray was more blunt, saying that once commercial and industrial taxes were factored out of the equation, the fund would not have enough revenue to sustain itself.

A key point, it turns out, is that some members of the Selectboard see a fundamental unfairness to the fact that industrial and commercial landowners pay taxes that apply to trash service but that they do not themselves benefit from trash service.

Sondag then explained the tax ramifications. For a homeowner who lives in his or her $200,000 house, the tax savings is about $140 if the town does away with trash service. But the added cost of trash removal (or disposal by driving it oneself to Old Ferry Road) is close to $500. The net result is an increase in costs to that homeowner of over $300 per year. The owner of a trailer valued at $40,000 would save $30 on their tax bill but incur the same new trash costs, making their net cost increase over $400 per year.

The group that saved the most and would not incur a trash offset was industrial and commercial owners. That group would save around $1100 per year in taxes, and since they already pay for their own trash removal, there is no offset. When asked where the breakeven point was, John Leisenring gave a ballpark of $375,000.

A number of citizens rose to speak after that, almost all in opposition to the proposal to cut trash service. For most, the amount of the tax decrease would not outweigh the increase in cost for trash removal, but they cited other reasons including increased dumping, burning and other forms of inappropriate disposal. A Mr. Cummings spoke in defense of elderly people on fixed incomes, who he said were hurt by this proposal. Dora Bouboulis cited families in distress.

But for most, the numbers just didn’t add up. Dart Everett said that by his calculations, this would cost homeowners half a million more than the current million dollar trash collection. There would be no savings, and in fact an increase for many if not most.

Returning to the heart of the matter, Spoon Agave asked: why does the Town need to cut this service from the budget? He was told that the reason was that the Selectboard felt that a 3.4% increase was too high.

John Leisenring capped the discussion with his thoughts. “Town Trash removal for residents is a bargain compared to getting it on your own,” he said. Private hauling will always be more expensvie. But he said, “People always want reduced taxes.”

With regard to budgets, Leisenring pointed out that like prices generally, municipal costs rise year to year. “Folks have to understand that government may be more efficient than we think,” he concluded.

Ellen Angstrom summed it up for the public: “I haven’t heard anyone here saying “Lower My Taxes!” she said, noting that it was cheaper for her to take a tax increase. “It takes a village.”

DeGray said that the board was ready to act on the budget and would probably wrap it up at the next budget meeting. There was no vote at this meeting as to continuation of trash service.

Following the weighty trash discussion, the board whipped through the rest of the agenda.

The board approved a list of errors and ommissions from the Board of Listers.

The winning employee suggestion this month was to place fuel oil tanks in the basement instead of in underground storage tanks. This idea is expected to save the town a lot of money.

And the final item was appointments of Town Clerk Annette Cappy, Town Treasurer Emilie Thomas, and Fisher and Fishers as town attorneys. Tom Finnell also received a committee appointment.

The next budget meeting will be held Monday, December 22 at 7:30 am. If DeGray is correct about procedure, the vote on trash service could be taken as early as then. Rich Garant said he was unlikely to make this meeting due to his job at the Postal Service.