There is a new fee on the books in Niskayuna, but one councilman is painting it as a scam to raise additional revenue.
The Niskayuna Town Board approved a new lawn debris fee by a 3-1 vote on Tuesday, Jan. 24, with Councilman Jonathan McKinney dissenting and Councilwoman Liz Orzel Kasper absent from the meeting.
The local law establishes a new fee for the town picking up brush, grass, branches and other yard waste. The $30 annual fee applies to every resident or property owner and is applied by default, which McKinney characterized as a swindle to raise additional revenue.
“If they sign up everybody they are hoping people will forget and just pay it and not realize they are paying it,” McKinney said. “Why trick people into paying to help balance your budget?”
Every property owner wishing to avoid the fee and refuse the town’s service must file a notice with the town clerk prior to March 15 every year; otherwise, the fee will be charged every year it isn’t waived.
The town’s 2012 budget includes $150,000 in new revenue from implementation of the fee. McKinney was the sole board member who voted against adoption of budget.
Supervisor Joe Landry said the automatic charge was done as a convenience for residents.
“There are a lot of reasons to allow people to make that decision once a year and we are doing that for benefit of the residents,” Landry said.
Landry said town officials believe a majority of residents will utilize the service, ensuring the budgeted revenue line. Also, he said it would be easier for town employees to work with the “smaller number of people opting out” than with the larger amount of people using the service.
Some reasons for the annual opt-out, he said, were if a property transfers between someone and if one year a person decides to utilize a private service.
McKinney isn’t swayed and he said the fee is similar to a credit card customer setting up recurring payments for a specific amount of money each billing period.
“It is like a credit card scam … it is a small enough amount where you have a renewing bill and you don’t realize you are doing it,” he said. “If you make it small enough and it is recurring, is it right?”
Landry disputed McKinney’s comparison and said he doesn’t believe the fee is a scam. Landry also denounced McKinney for offering no budget amendments and not attending any of the Transportation Committee meetings during the six months the fee was discussed before the budget.
“For him to make that comment now is a little late. He had plenty of opportunities and he made no comments at all during the budget discussion about this,” Landry said. “He didn’t do his homework and he didn’t attend meetings and he didn’t say anything at the appropriate times.”
McKinney confirmed he didn’t attend any of the Transportation Committee meetings over the six-month period. He said the meetings were scheduled during the business day and since he works full time it is hard for him to attend the meetings.
“The idea that unless you were physically at a meeting you don’t get to provide input is ridiculous,” he said. “I used to try to make all those meetings and suggested if I could make a conference call.”
McKinney also said he had given input on the fee earlier and made suggestions for the budget even though he didn’t offer amendments, such as changing things within the Recreation Department to save money.
“I could make suggestions, but it is four against one, so I am not going to put a ton of effort in trying to convince people,” he said.
Landry contested McKinney hasn’t taken “an active role” and “is just criticizing from the outside.”
Landry said the lawn debris pickup service is provided for about 31 weeks each year and costs the town an estimated $300,000 to $500,000 annually. He said the new fee would cover around one-third of the cost for the service, with the remaining funds coming from property taxes.
“That is less than a $1 every time the service is provided,” he said.
Landry cited the tax cap as a primary reason for implementing the new fee.
“We are dealing with a tax cap and it is very difficult to put a budget together dealing with the tax cap,” he said.
McKinney was unsure of enforcement of the new fee and questioned if it would add a significant amount of time to town employees during pick up.
Town Highway Superintendent Frank Gavin previously said residents could possibly take advantage of others, but remained hopeful only a small portion of residents would opt out due to the low fee. Gavin said the town would investigate if any resident called with a complaint.
“We will not know where the debris is coming from … we are basically assuming that everybody is going to be honest,” Landry said.
Councilwoman Denise Murphy McGraw previously said town officials have discussed enforcement procedures, with the plan evolving from handing out leaf decals to the current policy.
McKinney said he has had a lot of people emailing him about the new fee and saying they don’t like it, but are probably going to pay it anyway.
“The sad thing is people don’t want to pay it, but are going to do it anyway,” McKinney said. “People feel bullied by this administration.”
He also questioned if someone is out of town and doesn’t return until the March 15 deadline they wouldn’t have an opportunity to waive the fee for the year.
“A lot of people are out of town and probably are not even aware that this has been implemented,” McKinney said. “They will send out information now after it is already a done deal.”
