Selectmen call current fees unfair
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - Two members of the Board of Selectmen called the town's current fees for athletics and after-school activities unfair during a fiscal year (FY) 2009 public hearing Dec. 11.

Prompted by a question from the audience, Chair Maurice DePalo and Selectman Moira Miller both said they believed the fees unfairly targeted middle school and high school parents.

"It's unfortunate that that's where the fees hit first," De- Palo said. "I think a pay-asyou throw [trash removal fee] is a lot more equitable than dumping the burden on one segment of the population."

The question was posed by Joanna Musselman, who has been an outspoken supporter of a Proposition 2-1/2 override. After three failed override attempts, Musselman said it's time to see what kinds of cuts will be necessary without additional funding.

"Take education, public safety and infrastructure off the table, set those aside as sacred cows and then see what can be done with what you have left," Musselman said. "Other towns are turning off street lights, eliminating sports programs and busing … If we get to the point where we're going to have to make severe cuts, a lot of things will be on the table."

The Parks and Recreation Department, the Senior Center and the library may all need to be severely scaled back or eliminated, she said. It was a statement that did not resonate with the board.

"If you start stripping away what makes a community a community, then what do you have left?" DePalo asked. "We need to provide essential services and try to have a balance of some of the things that make a town a community."

The failure to pass an override, combined with state restrictions on revenue generation, means that the town may need to implement more fee-based services to cover its expenses. A much publicized fee that's up for consideration is the payas you-throw (PAYT) trash removal fee.

In most cases, PAYT requires residents to purchase special colored bags for trash removal. Charging people to pay for each individual bag has increased recycling and decreased the amount of trash left at the curb across the country, including in surrounding cities and towns like Northborough and Worcester.

According to the Health Department, Shrewsbury currently picks up an average of 932 pounds of trash per person each year, roughly 31 bags for each Shrewsbury resident.

Only about 24 percent of Shrewsbury's waste is put in curbside recycling, a number health officials say could jump to as much as 50 percent with bag fees.

But some people believe the town can increase recycling and cut down on waste without the additional expense of the colored bags.

One possible solution suggested at the hearing was using clear bags which would allow trash collectors to make sure there are no recyclables in the curbside rubbish. Bags that contained too many recyclables would be marked and left on the curb.

Board members said a clear bag program would turn trash collectors into the trash police, costing more money than people may realize and possibly creating an uncomfortable situation for residents.

"I've watched these guys and they're hustling. They're not looking at the bags, they're just flinging them into the back of the truck," Selectman John Lebeaux said. "It seems like it would take a great deal of additional time if every single bag had to be examined first."

For Miller, the clear bag program could create a real privacy issue for residents.

"I know I put things in my trash that I don't want the [trash collectors] to see, let alone my neighbors," she said. "I just think you'd be trading in one issue for a potentially larger one."

The Dec. 11 hearing was just one of many early FY 2009 budget discussions and forums that the Board of Selectmen has planned in an eff ort to get as much early input from residents as possible.