No one at the March 13 Wiscasset selectboard meeting or the budget committee meeting March 11 proposed Wiscasset change to pay-as-you-throw or curbside pickup, but the concepts got some brief comments as both panels took up budget questions last week for the June 11 annual town vote. 

When selectmen took up the $876,762 proposed transfer station budget, up 12.16% from 2023-24, Selectmen’s Chair Sarah Whitfield noted the budget committee went 5-1 on it. Budget committee member Brian Adams explained earlier in the meeting, the committee’s votes two nights earlier came down to costs. 

Town Manager Dennis Simmons told selectmen, curbside pickup has pros and cons. “Curbside pickup does not take everything. So we’d have to make arrangements for some place for people to get rid of” those things, he said. He said someone asked Woolwich what it pays for curbside pickup and was told it was more than $700,000. Woolwich Selectboard Chair David King Jr. confirmed for Wiscasset Newspaper March 18, curbside pickup cost Woolwich $245,888 for the 2023-24 budget year, including $135,849 for trucking and $111,035 for tipping (dump) fees.

Wiscasset’s transfer station brings in about $400,000 a year, Simmons said. “So the actual cost to the town is like $476,000.” By numbers Budget Committee Chair Thomas Joyce provided March 18, the net cost to Wiscasset taxpayers will be $481,174. This (net cost) is up 15% from the prior year, when we paid 70% more than Woolwich did.”

Selectman Pam Dunning recalled a past year’s discussion of curbside pickup or going pay per bag. “And the point was brought up, especially with curbside pickup, you end up with a lot of sofas and chairs and refrigerators stuck on the side of the back roads,” Dunning said.

Then the town ends up having to remove the items, Simmons said. 

Some meeting participants March 13 later smiled as they listed the station, the post office and the store as places residents socialize and hear what’s going on in town.

Selectmen recommended the transfer station budget 5-0.

Wiscasset voters rejected pay as you throw, 221-146 on June 11, 2013, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files. As proposed, Wiscasset Transfer Station’s users in Wiscasset, Alna and Westport Island would have bought trash bags from Wiscasset; that proposal was aimed at generating revenue, increasing recycling and, over time, saving on property taxes.

On Parks and Recreation, budgeted at $1,265,716 for 2024-25, up 8.98% from 2023-24, the budget committee on March 11 went 3-3, selectmen on March 13, 5-0.