The Board of Selectmen discussed fees for town services during their Wednesday meeting, voting to keep permits for the town’s transfer station at $90 annually and stickers for Tobey Pond at $85 per resident vehicle and $60 for those 65 years and older. Both figures are unchanged from the current fee schedule and permits may be obtained in the Town Clerk’s office.
Transfer station stickers go on sale June 1 and must be affixed to the car windshield by July 1. Tobey Pond stickers go on sale June 1 and must be in place to park there.
But there are issues swirling around both municipal services. First Selectman Matt Riiska reported that some private individuals are purchasing transfer station stickers and then are being paid to take other residents’ trash to the dump. These are apparently not registered trash haulers.
“My feeling is that the people whose trash it is should have a permit,” Riiska said. “We can’t take trash for people who haven’t purchased a sticker.”
He suggested a solution of “guesstimating” how many households’ garbage is being hauled by a single person and then pricing permits differently for that person. The transfer station attendant apparently can identify the individuals.
Town Clerk Linda Perkins brought up a separate problem. Residents who move to town part way through the year often want their stickers pro-rated. After discussion, the selectmen decided that the purchase price would be $90 through the first three quarters of the year and drop to $45 April 1.
Perkins also brought up the price of Tobey Pond car stickers, saying that “with the cost of lifeguards going up, it’s an issue.” Lifeguards have been hard to find in recent years and their pay has been boosted to $18 an hour.
Because people without stickers sometimes come to the beach, at least one lifeguard would be needed to check vehicles and ask unpermitted drivers to leave. And, Perkins said, beachgoers often park out on the road, then walk through the woods to get to the beach.