Above: The Select Board may vote next week on proposed sticker fee increases for using the Transfer Station. (photo by Beth Melo)
On Tuesday, the Select Board will hold a hearing on Transfer Station fees and revising regulations for the upcoming fiscal year. That includes a recommendation to increase the fees for permit stickers.
The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 17 at 6:30 pm in the Town House Hearing Room and over zoom.
Last year, DPW Superintendent Bill Cundiff recommended, and the board agreed to, only one fee increase — $10 for the first car of non-seniors. This year he is recommending more increases across the board.
In a packet with the hearing notice, a memo from Cundiff identifies three options for fee increases.
The options show above and described below are the only three included in the packet. But the Board has the authority to decide on something entirely different, including keeping fees the same.
For non-seniors, Cundiff’s recommendation (Option 1) is to again increase the fees for the first car by $10 (from $285 to $295). But he would also increase the stickers for additional cars from $20 to $25.
Under alternatives he included, the same rates would apply under Option 2. Under Option 3, the first sticker would only increase by $5 (to be $290).
For seniors over the age of 65 (by Dec 31st), while there would still be a steep discount for the main sticker, the increases are proportionally higher.
Under Cundiff’s recommendation (Option 1), seniors would also pay $10 more for the first sticker ($50 up from $40). The additional stickers would increase by $15 to be $25, the same as non-seniors.
Option 2 would instead increase the senior sticker for additional cars by only $5 (to be $15). Option 3 includes that change, plus only increasing seniors’ main sticker by $5 (to be $45).
Whether senior residents should receive a discount, and by how much, has been one of the fee aspects debated by board members over the years.
Cundiff’s memo explains his recommendation to increase fees was based on prior Select Board feedback. The board has historically asked the DPW to include only $100K of its expenses in the Town’s Operating Budget covered by taxpayers. The rest should be covered by user fees.
That has been the consensus the majority of the board has agreed to for years. However, the funding balance of user fees vs taxpayers is one of the longstanding debates board members have had for over a decade.
Over the years, some individual members have argued that the Transfer Station should be a public good that is fully taxpayer funded with “free” use by all residents.
On the other end of the spectrum, some have argued that taxpayers who choose to use a pickup service are unfairly paying for two services. They have pushed for users to pay for more, or even fully fund the station.
In the end, the moderate position embraced by some, to strike a balance, is the compromise that has continually received the majority/unanimous support.
Not highlighted in the memo, but included in the newly proposed rules & regs, is a pro-rated permit fee change for new residents only. It is currently “$23.75*/Mo. from month of home purchase to Aug. 30”. The would increase to $24.58.
Other than that, no actual rule changes were proposed. But they will look very different. The proposed rules & regs are re-formatted with a table of contents.
The new version also adds a definition to clarify the already prohibited “Commercial Waste” as “waste generated by businesses, institutions, contractors, or any nonresidential source”.
Any changes would go into effect as of FY26 starting on July 1st. But the new fees wouldn’t impact users until they purchase new stickers. Current stickers won’t expire until September 15th.
Click here for the full packet. (The first section of the attachment to the memo is the current rules & regs. Scroll further for the proposed version for FY26.)
Updated (6/11/25 1:45 pm): I had accidentally written July 17th instead of June 17th. As indicated in the headline and opening sentence, the hearing is part of next week’s meeting.
It would better served to the town residents that there is some form of enforcement being done.
The majority of commercial contractors using the transfer station as their own dumpster is getting obscene.
The law as written is supposed to be 40 gallon pails of debris cut up not full sheets of plywood and pickup trucks full of someone’s bathroom remodel.
Along with people without stickers also utilizing the dump .
Here we go again increasing costs for senior citizens to utilize the town facilities! We have been paying town taxes in this town for 42 years and now your going to dispose of the free transfer station for senior folks. This town has eliminated quite a few services such as the repair of water lines to the meters now homeowners issue. If this town stopped wasting taxpayers dollars on project studies many which never get done and better utilize the funds these increases would not be needed!
Just for starters, the use of the term “non-seniors” is a bit of a linguistic somersault. What’s next—do we start referring to voters at Town Meeting as “non-children”? Let’s be clear: we have residents, and we have residents over 65.
Looking at this more practically, using the data from the spreadsheet shown in the article, if all residents paid the same amount, the transfer station sticker fee in 2025 would have been $195. From this, it becomes clear: it takes two residents under 65 to subsidize the discount given to one resident over 65.
What’s more, if residents over 65 had paid a $195 fee, the town wouldn’t need to pull over $100,000 from the general tax base to fund the transfer station. That’s not nothing.
To be fair, the good news is that the town was able to help 60 residents who actually needed financial assistance. But let’s not kid ourselves—this current structure also gives a steep discount to people like me, who can easily afford it and proudly display the cut-rate sticker on the front of a luxury vehicle.