HARTFORD — The price to unload trash at Hartford’s transfer station will go up by 19% next week as part of an effort to reduce the Route 5 facility’s reliance on tax dollars.
The cost of a punch card, which allows residents to drop off 10 bags of household waste, will rise to $40 on Tuesday, up from the current $33.50 fee. Non-residents who use the transfer station will pay $4.95 for a single-use card, an increase of 65 cents.
The new prices are meant to counteract mounting costs to run the facility and the loss of revenue from construction waste, which the town stopped accepting in June, according to Town Manager Brannon Godfrey.
But it’s unclear whether the fee increases — which mean it will now cost $4 for one 40-pound bag of trash — will raise the additional $99,000 officials are estimating. Hartford is among more than 20 Upper Valley communities with access to the Lebanon landfill and residents could be drawn to cheaper prices on Route 12A, Godfrey said Tuesday.
A Lebanon punch card is good for 10 bags of trash and costs only $15. The city also accepts construction and demolition, or C&D, waste.
“It’s really hard for us here in Hartford because we’re so close to Lebanon, and a lot of people just do the calculus and have enough business in Lebanon that it’s worth it for them to just take their solid waste directly to Lebanon for a lesser cost,” Godfrey said.
Meanwhile, some officials are questioning whether it’s worth it for Hartford to continue running its transfer station.
“Either the transfer station has to stop being an enterprise fund or we have to just reconsider the business model,” Hartford Selectboard Chairman Simon Dennis said Thursday.
The town is exploring some changes for the transfer station, which could include turning it over to a commercial entity, he said.
Hartford received an offer from Casella Waste Systems to operate the facility, although officials haven’t yet engaged in discussions, Public Works Director Hannah Tyler announced during an Oct. 22 Selectboard meeting, where she implored officials to adopt the new trash fee.
“Right now, to cover our costs at the current punches, we’re like a sinking ship, and it’s going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money this year,” she said in a CATV recording of the meeting.
“I lose sleep over this fund,” Tyler added. “I have put a ton of thought into how we can manage the budget responsibly.”
The transfer station lost a major source of revenue when Hammond Grinding and Recycling declined to continue grinding C&D material and hauling it to Lebanon, where it was used as a cover for other waste at the landfill.
The Orange-based company hadn’t increased prices in 20 years and informed officials the status quo was unsustainable, officials said at the time.
Godfrey said Tuesday that Hammond has little interest in negotiating a new contract and no other contractors have responded to inquiries.
“At this point, we’re not accepting C&D and don’t have any plans to in the near future,” he said.
Town officials also blamed new prices at the Lebanon landfill, which gets the trash from the Hartford transfer station and also accepts solid waste from surrounding communities, for increased costs at the transfer station.
The Lebanon City Council this summer approved an updated landfill ordinance that raised prices on several forms of waste as part of an effort to keep the 40-acre facility open longer.
Selectboard members last week called for a reevaluation of Hartford’s trash obligations.
With many Hartford residents already opting to have private curbside pickup, running a facility as well “seems like a luxury,” Selectboard Vice Chairman Richard Grassi said in the CATV video. “Either we break even and we stay in this business or we get out.”
The Selectboard is expected to discuss transfer station costs more as it crafts a 2020 budget this winter.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.