Waste District Passes Budget, Welcomes New Program Coordinator
ADAMS, Mass. — The 13-member Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District passed a fiscal 2018 budget that will see an increase of 4 percent in each town's assessment.
This represents a 10 cent increase per person in the district to a total of $2.87 per person.
Treasurer Terry Haig said the other option would only increase the budget by 1 percent per town but it would not fully fund insurance for the coordinator.
The commissioners felt it would be more responsible to fund the most expensive insurance option. Although new coordinator Linda Cernik does not use district insurance and they do not anticipate her leaving, they wanted to be prepared in case they hired someone who needed family insurance.
Any unused funds in that line item could be a buffer.
"It sounds like the most responsible option and we will have a buffer sitting there to use for hazardous waste or paint," Florida representative Neil Oleson said. "If we need it it will be there and if we have to use it we can tighten the belt somewhere else."
Williamstown representative Timothy Kaiser voted against the larger increase.
"I am just trying to be fiscally responsible for my town and my solid waste budget for operating our transfer station is well over $200,000 and this ends up being 10 percent of my budget," he said. "I am trying to scrape the dust off the dimes to get all the dust I can anywhere."
Thursday was Cernik's first meeting since being hired and she said she has hit the ground running.
"Everything is going well, and I am very busy," she said. "I jumped right in on the first day … I have learned a lot so far … there were a few glitches but other than that I am getting it."
Cernik replaced longtime coordinator Sandy Totter who retired late last year. She spent her first few weeks squaring away the year-end report for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
"I learned a lot from doing it; it was good," she said. "It was a great learning curve because I had to get all the data from all of the vendors do some calculations."
She said her next charge is to develop reports for each town in the district.
Adams representative Edward Driscoll said it may be a good opportunity to share with the communities the work they do.
"This will be put in front of every member of the district and it is one of our only chances to tell them all the services we do," he said. "If you want to look at it at it from a PR perspective, we have been giving them far more services every year than the cost has gone up."
Peru representative Peter Loboda said it is good to remind residents that they would lose many services if they ever wanted to dissolve the district.
"We need to constantly justify our existence because at any time people could decide that they just want to do all of this themselves," he said. "They could easily cut off their nose to spite their face."
Cernik said she was ready for the challenge.
"I'll fluff it up," she said. "I am all about success stories and highlighting the program."
In other business, the commissioners discussed adding a payment for paint removal into the assessment or charging $1 to $2 a can. Disposal of paint cost the district $6,800 last year.
Tags: fiscal 2018, NBSWD, waste district,
