Realizing $150,000 of revenue budgeted from a new lawn debris pick up fee could be feasible, if recent comments from Niskayuna residents resonate throughout town.
The Niskayuna Town Board held a public hearing on Thursday, Jan. 12, for a local law to establish new fees for the town picking up brush, grass, branches and other yard waste. The $30 lawn debris fee applies to every resident or property owner and would be applied by default.
A resident would have to take action to waive the fee and refuse the town’s service. Every property owner wishing to waive the fee would have to file a notice with the town clerk prior to March 15 every year.
Most residents speaking during the public hearing appeared willing to pay the new $30 fee, but there were concerns expressed over implementation and enforcement of residents abusing the system.
“I do have some concerns nonetheless,” said resident Leslie Gold. “What about neighbors who opt out and then decide to make use of somebody else’s privilege … because I have already had a problem with a neighbor adding to my containers.”
Town Highway Superintendent Frank Gavin said residents could possibly take advantage of others, but he is hopeful only “a minimal number of residents” would opt out due to the “low” fee.
“I guess we’ll have to regulate it and if the neighborhood police are out there and somebody does call then we’ll investigate it,” Gavin said. “It is impossible for us to go around and check.”
Councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw assured the public that town officials have discussed enforcement procedures and the plan has evolved from handing out leaf decals to the current policy.
“We have also talked about Frank’s staff trying to keep a handle on who’s in, who’s out, if neighbors are kind of taking advantage of other neighbors and things like this,” McGraw said. “We talked about all of these over a course of the better part of a year … this has been an evolving process and we will probably talk about it again six months from now and we will see where we are.”
Councilwoman Liz Orzel Kasper said the town is relying on the integrity of its residents.
“We have to go on the idea that (residents) are pretty honest,” Kasper said.
Gavin said he would compile a list of residents opting out of the service because he believes it will be shorter. Since the different employees drive the truck regularly, having an easy list to follow will help, he said.
Keith Barney, representing the Mohawk Trails Homeowners Association, brought up a different concern, because in his neighborhood there are 10 homes with one driveway on Nott Street East. The grouping of residents would all be bringing their waste to the street, which he said could make it difficult to determine whose debris is whose.
“I think it is going to be a difficult situation and I’m not sure if it is going to be worth the $30 a month to keep policing this,” Barney said. “I am sure a lot of us are honest and we would do it.”
In the 2012 Town Budget, the board approved a new revenue line totaling $150,000 to be received through the lawn debris fee. Details of the fee became clearer in the months following the budget adoption.
At $30 per resident or property owner, the town would need 5,000 people to not waive the fee to avoid a shortfall in budgeted revenue. According to 2010 census data, the town has 8,645 housing units occupied, with 361 units vacant. Of the occupied housing units, 6,967 (80.6 percent) are owner-occupied. If 72 percent of owner-occupied housing units didn’t waive the fee the quota would be met.
Linda Rizzo, a former Republican candidate for Town Board, said she believed a majority of residents would pay the fee.
“You are probably going to have 80 percent of Niskayuna that wants it,” Rizzo said.
She also said municipalities charging fees for services is probably going to be a continuing trend. Even though she hires a private company to do the same work, she said she’d pay the fee as an “insurance policy” towards yard debris being picked up.
“I think this is the wave of the future. I think we are going to need to do this more, because of the problem we now have with the (tax cap),” Rizzo said. “It is much more difficult I think to just have people that want it to sign up, because I think people will forget and then they are going to be upset … when their twigs and things aren’t picked up.”
Lorene Zabin, a Brookshire Drive resident, said she would probably pay the fee, but expressed discontent over a new fee being tacked onto an existing service.
“What concerns me is if we can so brazenly start raising fees on services I feel that any administration can start to look at any service and start to implement a fee for what we are paying taxes. It isn’t a big assessment, I understand that, but I think it is just the principle of the thing,” Zabin said. “How do you establish a fee for a service that we have already paid for in our highway tax?”
A majority of the Democrat-controlled Town Board has weighed in favorably on the new fee, which is planned to be voted on during the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 25. If approved, residents would have until the March 15 deadline to waive the fee.
Jonetta Darcy, a Whitney Drive resident, said she only would use the service two to three times a year, but plans to pay the fee. She viewed the new expense in a slightly different light, though.
“I will probably pay the fee and I will think of it as charity,” said Darcy.
