During the March town meeting, residents voted to cut almost $151,000 from the proposed budget. After the Selectboard and department heads reviewed the budgets, some wiggle room was discovered in the solid waste budget.
"One thing that kept coming up over and over again was the trash," said Selectboard member Michael Courtemanche. At which point, town officials devised a cheaper alternative for reducing the $90,000 by recycling at higher levels than in the past, he said.
The proposed plan for curbside garbage collection was $55,000 -- a non-variable rate -- with the tipping fee at the $90,000, which is dependent on the amount of garbage collected.
Despite the limited resources for trash collection, officials have turned the potential problem into a challenge. Board members are asking residents to reduce their waste by one-third in order to meet their budget restrictions, reducing the variable rate of trash collection from the $90,000 to $60,000.
Based on the experience of Selectboard members and a number of Vernon community, the cost can be reduced if residents recycled more.
"This is an easy way to reduce the budgets, if we can get everyone's participation and involvement," said Courtemanche.
Selectboard
"So why pay for rain water?" he asked, adding residents can also look to composting appropriate foods from their refrigerators that otherwise would be discarded in the wastestream.
According to statistics from Triple-T services, Vernon averages roughly 70 tons of garbage each month, equaling about 44 pounds per week for each one of the approximately 900 households. The national average each week ranges between 30-35 pounds.
Courtemanche estimated from July 2007 to May, the town recycled roughly 13.5 tons, but he hopes for more than 20 tons during the current fiscal year.
"I think on average, we're doing a little more than a ton a month, I would hope we can double the amount of tonnage a month," he said. "If we can bump that up to 2.5-3 tons a month, I think we could achieve our goal."
Additionally, he said the town offices, school, recreation center and businesses are jumping onboard as well to reduce the amount of trash.
With a variety of programs offered by Windham Solid Waste Management District, increasing the recycling rate can be an easy task, according to town officers. Ball reminds Vernon residents that if everyone does not participate and the budget is spent before the fiscal year ends, the municipal trash service will come to a halt and people will have to pay individually for their garbage.
Ball said residents can take their materials to the recycling center at the town garage and place them in the appropriate roll-off container. "There's no doubt in my mind that this (challenge) can be met."
Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 275.
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