NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — New transfer station fees will see annual permits rise $10 and bags 25 cents a piece.

 

The City Council gave final approval to the new fees on Tuesday; they were passed to a second reading a month ago but not published in time to be voted at the last meeting. 

 

The fees at the transfer station are based on costs of labor and disposal of waste, which has continued to rise. The city budgeted $136,000 more for waste removal this fiscal year. 

 

Commercial and residential annual permits will increase for the first time in two years, with commercial going from $85 to $100 (and the same for additional vehicles) and resident from $60 to $70 with a fee of $5 for an additional vehicle.

 

Permits for part-time residents from Jan. 1 to June 30 will rise from $35 to $40, with $5 charge for an additional vehicle remaining the same. Temporary permits will remain at $20 a month or a one-time daily rate of $10.

 

The annual permit for nonresidents will jump from $80 to $100, with no allowable additional vehicles; nonresident monthly rates will also rise $10 to $40.

 

Bags will go up a quarter, with 33-gallon bags now at $3.25 and 15-18 bags at $1.75.

 

The scale rate will go from $0.0749 per pound, or $149.80 per ton, to $0.0862, or $172.04 per ton. Scaled waste has a minimum charge of $10.

 

Total cost to operate the transfer station this year is budgeted at $709,733, up about 18 percent, or $126,085, over last year. A big part of that is the cost for waste removal services, which is being budgeted at almost $100,000 over the actual costs for fiscal 2022 at $546,341.

 

Cost to dispose of large items and appliances are about the same or slightly higher. 

 

The fee schedule will no longer be posted in the city code but referred to in an appendix. All fees are being shifted out of the code to reduce the burden of updating the document, which currently lists the rates from 2015.

 

The rates are effective July 1, 2023, but residents who have already purchased their annual permit will not be charged the new amount until they get their permit next year.