Recycling key to keeping costs down

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:52:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

Town officials say initial department head requests total some $2.35 million as they begin to look at the expenses in store for 2009-10.

The first initial view of next year’s budget began on Sept. 13, as selectmen reviewed the budget requests from the town’s Fire Department, police, road crew and other areas. Selectman Joe Duarte said that the requests total $2,353,339, an amount about $30,000 higher than today’s budget, but he warned that some big-ticket items such as insurance have not been added into the budget yet.

According to the figures in the current budget, health insurance totals about $75,000, and Duarte said officials are anticipating a rate increase of around 25 percent or more when the new rates are finally released next month. Overall, Duarte said department heads have submitted thrifty budgets this year, with no new major spending items or unexpected work project requests to be seen so far.

But figuring largely on the minds of most officials right now is what the new transfer station costs will be, and amount that Duarte said could have a very wide variance based on two “unknowns” -- recycling levels and trash transfer costs.

The town’s former trash disposal method of burning in the incinerator essentially costs the town nothing outside of the cost of running the incinerator itself, Duarte said, but the disposal fees to landfill the town’s nonrecyclable household trash has the potential to be a very costly service for taxpayers.

So far, the requests for the transfer station total $421,969, but Duarte said there is no surefire way for official to predict exactly how much they will have to spend next year on the transfer fees. Recycling has the added benefit of decreasing the tonnage that goes into landfills as well as giving the town coffers a boost through the sale of bailed plastic, metals and other recyclables, and some officials said they hope to see residents recycle as much as $100,000 next year.

Duarte said the income from recyclables will be based on fluctuating market conditions for the prices for iron, steel and other commodities, and their values will probably change as rapidly as the cost of gasoline changes next year. Ultimately, the recycling income itself will be recycled as it goes back into the general fund, he said.

“But we have to be very careful, and we can’t rely on any particular amount of money coming in” he said. “All we can do is try and stay on top of (recycling).”

Among other budget areas, the police is the largest budget request area, with a total in $641,327 in requests. Although the amount is down from this year $686,000 in allocations, insurance figures for employee benefits have not been worked into the budget yet.

Chief Michael McGillen said yesterday that he has not put forward any requests for major projects or upgrades, although an $8,000 law-enforcement computer program could come forward as a warrant article.

McGillen said the program would outfit the new onboard computers in the department’s four cruisers with software to allow them to conduct checks of license plates, licenses and registrations on the road instead of having to relay the information via radio. He said the program would essentially eliminate the potentially unsafe roadway standby time when an officer is awaiting information on a person involved in a routine traffic stop, a situation that can be dangerous for officers in the event the person is a wanted suspect.

Fire Chief Rudy Cartier also said he doesn’t foresee any major projects form next year, and his department requests for the year total $112,460, an increase of $10,000 more than the current budget. About one-quarter of the increase is for fuel costs, and Cartier said he also requested an additional $5,500 for a project to dredge out and clean the fire pond, which provides emergency firefighting water to the downtown area.

Cartier said this important safety maintenance project has not probably not been performed during the past 25 years.

Opening of new transfer station goes well

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:19:00 GMT

BY TOBY HENRY

The new recycling center on Deer Run Road opened its doors to scores of people the last weekend of August as local residents made their first drop-offs of bottles and paper that officials say could be a new money maker for the town.

“I think that because of the holiday weekend, it’s been a pretty smooth transition for our employees here,” said Solid Waste Committee Chairman Paul McHugh.

“There’s probably a lot of people away this weekend, but the people that have showed up are very receptive to recycling. Now, we’ve got to recycle everything -- but it’s money.”

McHugh was joined by fellow committee members Amanda Soares, Al Couch, selectmen Chairman Fred Kelley and others to help answer the public’s questions and to help ease the transition from the “town dump” and incinerator on New Boston Road to the new facility.

Most of Candia’s plastic will now be sorted, bailed and sold, and by Sunday afternoon, Aug. 31, many of the large concrete holding bins at the center already contained growing mountains of cans, paper and other recyclables.

The opening of the center came after nearly four years of discussion, work and public voting that included a failed vote for a much larger regional recycling center three years ago. Although officials said the Labor Day weekend had a relatively low resident turnout compared to a typical weekend at the now-closed incinerator, Soares said more than 150 people had dropped off trash by noontime on Sunday, and those who did come brought fairly significant amounts of recyclables with them.

“It’s my first time here, and it seems pretty efficient and wellorganized,” said Paul Partridge.

“I wasn’t really sure of what to expect, but there’s a nice flow of traffic ... and I think it‘s a good arrangement compared to what we had before.”

At the incinerator, residents used to wait for a place to park and then throw their metal and cans in various dumpsters set up around the crowded property. But at the new center, the layout is less congested, and drivers pull their vehicles up to a two-lane second-story area and simply drop their cardboard, paper, glass and other materials down into the bins.

The final stop on the way out is the large red compactor trailer, which McHugh said can hold up to 10 tons of regular household trash. While residents and committee members gave the new center high marks for its improved traffic flow, center operator Chuck Whitcher said some residents would occasionally get boxed in and have to wait for an exit until residents parked to the front, side or rear drop off their recyclables and leave.

“They’d have to wait a few minutes, and some people were bothered by it, but others were very patient and understanding,” Whitcher said.

The occasional odd item did not have an apparent drop-off location, and in one example, Soares held on to a worn-out dry ice pack for one resident and disposed of it later in a receptacle designed for objects containing chemicals. Additionally, officials said some similar items like common house light bulbs and fluorescent bulbs have to be disposed of in different ways.

While the regular light bulbs can be thrown out with regular trash, the fluorescent bulbs, which contain mercury, are put in a separate area to be recycled later on. Soares said the items that generated the most questions were kitty litter -- it now goes in with regular trash and not construction debris -- and Styrofoam, which also goes in the household trash compactor.

Residents questioned on Sunday morning said they were pleased with the new center, although a few expressed concern that the town had not sent out fliers beforehand to remind them to sort out their plastic, particularly the ubiquitous clear plastic water bottles. Paul Gagnon was one of several to say that an informative newsletter mailing would have been a good reminder for residents to begin sorting out their plastic, and McHugh said an extensive multi-page hand-out will be made available soon.

During opening weekend, information was available at the center in the form of a flier, and most residents questioned said they were able to figure out what to do without much of a problem. Walter Ingaharro said there will probably be a learning curve as he and other residents learn how to best use the two parking lanes as they access the concrete bins.

“Oh, give me a couple weeks,” he said. “I think that for right now, a lot of people are going to be confused about the parking.”

Candia News : transfer station

Recycling key to keeping costs down

Opening of new transfer station goes well