What is best for Brewster ?

1. There is no need to begin a PAYT program this year. 2. There has been insufficient study of Brewster’s waste disposal options. 3. Voters should have the decision-making power at our May town meeting. 4. PAYT may not be so “equitable” after all.

There is no urgency to begin a PAYT program this year!

Covanta’s new rates don’t start until 2015

Therefore, we have time to decide what is best for Brewster! Let’s use that time to more completely study Brewster’s Best Options for Trash Removal and the costs

As far as we know, the Recycling Committee only considered 2 options: continue the permit system or adopt PAYT

The Committee failed to assess the impact of creating a compost site at the transfer station

Much of the weight of trash comes from compost-eligible waste!

Intermediate steps can be taken.

The Recycling Committee did not consider the option of increasing fees for contractors who dump job waste. That waste is very different from residential waste.It is fair to impose higher fees for contractor waste as such costs would be passed on to the home or business making improvements.

The recycling committee did not consider intermediate steps Brewster could try in next 12 months

Efforts to improve voluntary recycling practices by Brewster residents

Educating Brewster residents about recycling practices to keep our waste removal costs down.

The estimates for PAYT are suspect as the assumption that a family will use 1 bag per week is dubious. For example, older Brewster residents who need to use adult diapers would easily dispose of more than 1 bag per week.

At even 2 bags a week, the cost would become $216.00 per year, plus the permit fee. That’s an annual cost of around $250.00 per year under PAYT.

Every member of the Brewster finance committee who looked at the cost numbers of the Recycling Committee found them to be dubious.

One member of the finance committee ran numbers on his own and concluded that even by the year 2034, that is, 20 years from now, the increase per household if the permit system stays would only be $56.29 per year above the current permit rate.

The Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Daniel Rabold, stated that the PAYT system is “more equitable” for those who produce less solid waste. See his statement before the Finance Committee on March 6, 2013 at minute 102.

However, a PAYT system more adversely affects those with lower and fixed incomes and those with large families because it is akin to a sales tax.

• Brewster residents, as a community, could decide that the existing permit fee approach is better for all. The permit fee approach does not hurt the less well off as much as PAYT could.

Example: A $2 per bag fee under PAYT impacts

a family with a $50,000 income twice as much as a family with a $100,000 income.

• There is extra work involved in recycling under the PAYT approach and this may be more burdensome for the elderly and those with larger families

An Egalitarian Approach through a system that takes into account our citizens’

different economic situations!

The legitimate view that voters may prefer to disperse the cost evenly through continuing a permit system and rejecting a PAYT approach

The voters, not the Selectmen, should make the PAYT decision, at annual town meeting in May because this is an issue that affects each citizen… this is the essence of town government!

How about:

PBRV! Permit Brewster Residents to Vote !

• There is an article for the Brewster Town Meeting Warrant in May which seeks to postpone implementation of PAYT program, pending further study during 2013.

• Will the Brewster’s Selectmen take away your right to vote on this?

If those Brewster citizens in favor of further study don’t show up at the Town Meeting and don’t let the Selectmen know of their view, then people can’t complain if PAYT happens this year!

The environmental activists will be pushing their view, shouldn’t you be expressing your views too?

Attend the May town meeting and write or call the Selectmen’s Office!