$1.9 Million Shortfall at Land Fill

I&M Question #2 for March 26th

Do you believe the selectmen made the right decisions to cover a $1.9 million shortfall at the landfill through existing tax revenue rather than a new sticker-fee system or an operating override?

The Land Fill issue has been botched from the start in negotiating the 25 year contract. The contract was poorly conceived and lacked transparency. We are paying the penalties for past bad management. The situation was further impacted by the change in State regulations. That being said, we have to decide where we should go from here.

The Land Fill is its own enterprise fund similar to the Airport and the Water companies. Its revenue and expenses should be isolated from the Town’s general funds. By including the $1.9 million Land Fill shortfall in the general funds, we are making the Town departments and the School pay for the problem. The new sticker fee being considered by the BOS is regressive as it puts more of a load on the residents. It would cost each one of the 10,000 households on Nantucket $200 per year to pay for the $1.9M Land Fill shortfall. The best answer is a Land Fill operating override costing about $55 per year for a house appraised at $1M.

A Land Fill override reduces costs to residents and follows good accounting practices by matching revenue and expenses. When the BOS Vice Chairman and the Town Manager recommended this approach, Chairman Kopko ignored their recommendations. He chose to close the budgetary gap by increased fees, dipping into prudent reserves, and cutting critical items from the Town and School budgets.