Garbage Fee Increase!

[OntheBlvd]

I was distracted last year when the garbage contract went into effect, so please correct me if I am out of line here. My recollection was that one of the benefits of a township wide garbage contract was a fixed monthly fee for the term of the contract. We also got road side recycling, unlimited bag service, appliance removal....and so forth. Am I right about the fixed fee for the term of the contract? Five years, right? How come this quarter's bill is for more?

[JoeP]

Holy Garbage Cans Batman!  You are right - I didn't even look at the current bill with Xmas stuff going on.  It jumped from $57.36 to $59.10.  Thanks for the heads up!

You are correct - the price was supposed to be fixed - I heard it was for 4 years but it could be for 5.  I believe the township supervisors have some explaining to do - because either they were duped, they lied or were asleep at the switch.

You may have noticed in davidk's 12/13 entry he states "At tonights meeting there was discussion concerning amending the garbage contract ordinance."  While this was supposedly pertaining to "exemptions", if the supervisors can renegotiate exemptions, then the supervisors can easily weasel there way out of the 4 year fixed rate.

This garbage contract has been a fiasco since day one.

[Sal]

Welcome to the board OntheBlvd.

Perhaps I can clear things up regarding the garbage.  There are three parts to it, the Ordinance the Contract, and the Bid.

The supervisors can change or remove the Ordinance whenever they feel like it.

The Contract is for Five years and it is somewhat binding on the parties being the Township and Waste Management but that contract is full of holes.

The contract refers to the Bid and the Bid states the amount of money that waste management will receive per dwelling.

The annual rate beginning January 1, of each year per dwelling including recycling follows:

2004:  $229.44
2005:  $236.40
2006:  $243.48
2007:  $255.72
2008:  $268.56

That is the reason for the increase.  It is built into the contract.

The discounts that some people are receiving are not in the contract or the Bid so I do not think that it is binding on WM.  In fact, the amount of money that WM is to receive for each year is totaled based on 958 dwellings.  So If WM does not receive all of the money because of discounts, WM could sue that township and the taxpayers are stuck again.  On the other hand, waste WM could simply stop giving the discounts and the seniors and disabled would get hit.

Anyway it is just part of the sloppy legal work that is done by the Township Lawyer.  The contract looks like it was some sort of fill in the blank contract.  He didn’t even bother to take out the word Borough.  On the first page it says Three contract years, later it says Five.

Hmm…  Need I say any more.  

I have copies of all three documents and I will try to put them on this website.

[JoeP]

Thanks Sal for the detailed clarification.  You taking the time to put a copy of the contract on this site is also a service to our community and I thank you for that too.  It was something the supervisors should have done (as a matter of public record) but they never heard of the Internet as a means of communication.

I'm trying to find the original Jan 04 letter sent by the supervisors proposing the garbage contract and asking for a vote from the residents.  I could have swore that letter said one of the benefits of going with the contract is that the rate would be fixed for the term of the contract.  I'll find that letter sooner or later.  

As I said in previous posts, it was the garbage contract that started this grassroots firestorm and it has continued to be a fiasco from day one.

JoeP

[Sal]

The garbage Ordinance, Contract and Bid is now available for download.  They are in PDF format and some of the files are large.  They are located at the Public Records link from the main page of this website.

Here is a direct link to the page.
http://newtonpa.com/records/

[davidk]

The bottom line is the whole ordinance is illegal according to the codebook.
It clearly states that the township can only enter into such a contract with either the county or other municipalities.
In the beginning there was the concept of various Abington munis getting a joint contract and that would be legal.
Then things fell apart. The various munis got seperate rates and Newton didn't even go with the same hauler as the others which invalidated the whole thing. At least legally.
Short of a lawsuit or replacement of the supervisors it's not going to change.

[OntheBlvd]

Thanks for the information. You are probably right, that the proposal poll letter included the promise that the fee would be fixed for the term of the contract. I know I read it somewhere. If you can locate a copy of the poll letter and make it available for review, that would be helpful. And it would confirm that my memory loss is not yet complete.

[JoeP]

No doubt most residents just received their 1st quarter 2007 Waste Management bill and noticed the annual increase is EVEN MORE than what the contract states.  Below are the annual contracted rates as I understood them as posted on this site;

The annual rate beginning January 1, of each year per dwelling including recycling follows:

2004:  $229.44
2005:  $236.40
2006:  $243.48
2007:  $255.72
2008:  $268.56

So for 2007 the quarterly rate should be $63.93 but my bill says $66.99 or $3.06 over the agreed rate.  There is some verbiage in the bill about 2 prorate charges adding up to the $3.06 but no explanation as to what they represent or if they are a one time charge or recurring.  I'm sure our township supervisors are clueless and oblivious to all this.

So Happy New Year Township Supervisors and thanks for selling us residents down the river - I haven't forgotten.