Letter from the Mayor Regarding Solid Waste and Recycling Collection
October 3, 2022
Dear Clinton Residents and Property Owners:
Each calendar year, the Town of Clinton is required to adopt a municipal budget in accordance with the myriad of statutes enacted by the State Legislature. Due to the ever-changing requirements being made by the Legislature, what used to be a relatively straight-forward process has become increasingly difficult over the last decade for all municipalities in New Jersey. The Legislature continues to bombard municipalities with increased, unfunded mandates (IE: Stormwater and Flood Control Regulations, Health Insurance costs) while imposing budget restrictions (IE: CAPS) with seemingly no rationale behind them. The Legislature continues to chip away at the how we operate and what services we can provide to residents and property owners. In addition, the State has continued over the last decade, or more, to reduce financial aid to Towns (as I have shared in multiple budget letters) so they could reallocate these funds. The Town, in conjunction with the NJ State League of Municipalities, has continued to lobby for “common-sense” changes to the budgetary process to be adopted by the State Legislature with little or no success. While these actions have (unfortunately) become the normal course of action rather than the exception, since 2012, we have worked very hard to develop a strong budgetary and spending process that ensured that we can continue to provide the high level of services to properties while minimizing increases and ensuring a sustainable financial future for the Town as a whole. While these decisions may not have always been popular, the benefits of these decisions have paid off ten-fold in recent years. However, our financial prudence aside, the State of New Jersey has just dealt the Town of Clinton (and all other municipalities too) a financial blow that will force all municipalities to make very hard decisions as to the level of service they provide their residents.
Due to the above actions (and inactions of the State) in recent years, the current issue at hand relates to the collection and disposal of residential solid waste (IE: Trash) and recycling. By way of history, the Town has been the recipient of very beneficial contracts for the collection and disposal of solid waste and recycling for the last twenty (20) years. Originally, this service was handled by a company named Kasper Disposal Services. They provided all the services we currently provide at a very reasonable cost. In 2011, Kasper Disposal Services sold their company to a new hauler named Premier Disposal, who took over the contract and also served the Town well for many years. However, as their predecessor did, in 2019, Premier Disposal sold their company to another hauler, Republic Services, who after some initial hiccups, has continued to serve the Town well. The collection and disposal costs that were billed to the Town during these contract years were very fair, which enabled us to continue providing the same level of service for decades. Combined with budgetary restrictions from the State; employee shortages and increases in costs for goods and materials is having a direct effect on the costs to provide these services. To put things in perspective, the cost of solid waste collection increased by 55%, recycling by 90%, and disposal by 10% (per ton). This will produce an overall increase of $105,000/year for the 2023 budget before any other State imposed increases, and significantly exceed any of the State-mandated budget caps. As a result of this, the Town will no longer be the beneficiary of lower costs for this service for the unforeseen future.
Now to the crux of the situation, what option is available? We have spent a significant amount of time running countless financial scenarios and looking at the costs for solid waste and recycling collection/disposal and made the following decision:
The Town will create a “Garbage Utility” and bill residents directly for this service rather than have it part of the Town’s budget and included as a portion of your property tax bill. This would be done in a similar manner in which residents receive sewer bills from the Town and would also be done on a quarterly basis. This option achieves two (2) things. First, the Town would no longer include these costs in our local budget and avoid exceeding the State-imposed budget caps. This option would act as a pass-through from the Town to residents for the cost of this service and would be billed in a similar manner as your sewer bill, which is based on an Equivalent Dwelling Unit (EDU) basis. Meaning, a single-family home would be billed for 1 EDU (as they are for sewer), while multiple dwellings such as multi-family homes or apartments are billed per unit located on the property. The annual utility fee will range between $225 - $275 per year per residential property. This would retain the once per week collection of trash and recycling. Due to the significantly higher costs associated with removing these types of items, the collection of bulky items would no longer be included in the base level of service provided to residents. Should you desire to have a bulky item collected, you would want to contact the hauler directly, and for a nominal charge (between $15 - $30 per item), they will collect the item(s). Also, residents will continue to have the ability (as they do now) to bring their bulky items directly to the Hunterdon County Transfer Station (908-236-9088), which is located on Petticoat Lane in Clinton Township for disposal.
With inflation causing costs of nearly everything to rise, combined with the State’s unwillingness to cease withholding aid to municipalities, we are not left with many options to (relatively) maintain the level of service for our residents. To that end, we feel that the best course of action would be to create a stand-alone solid waste/recycling utility and bill each residential property accordingly. This means, that starting sometime in the first quarter of 2023, all residential properties will receive a quarterly bill (similar to their sewer bill) in order to fund the costs associated with solid waste and recycling collection/disposal.
I apologize for the length of this letter, but I felt that it is imperative to explain all the history on this issue, so you have the full understanding why we are in this position. This was not an easy decision to be made, and I cannot express how frustrated I am with how the State fails to take municipal needs into account when they adopt new laws or pass new regulations. Municipalities routinely are left out of these discussions and are not made aware until after the fact when we are forced to solve a problem.
I hope this letter fully explains the dilemma that we are being put in by the State and welcome any discussion on the matter. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at jkovach@clintonnj.gov (908-399-8921), Councilman Kyle Perloff at kperloff@clintonnj.gov, Councilwoman Megan Johnson at mjohnson@clintonnj.gov or the Town’s Business Administrator, Rich Phelan, at rphelan@clintonnj.gov (908-735-8616).
Please know that we will continue to have these discussions in public forums, such as Council meetings and budget workshops, and welcome and encourage public attendance at the meetings.
We thank you in advance for your understanding.
Sincerely,
Janice Kovach
Mayor