'A Day That I Have Dreaded For Many Years': Peabody Mayor's $200 Trash Fee Gains City Council Favor

PEABODY, MA — Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt called his formal proposal of a $200 annual trash fee "a day I have dreaded for many years" and "the last option for me" during Tuesday night's City Council Finance and Property meeting, before adding that he believes the fee is ultimately the best way to preserve city services and put off a Proposition 2 1/2 override discussion three or more additional years.

"I would rather be any place else right now other than here presenting a trash fee," Bettencourt told a packed Wiggin Auditorium.

• Peabody Mayor Proposes Trash Fee, Water, Sewer Rate Hikes Amid Budget Crunch

Bettencourt said the fee is in addition to 20 municipal position cuts that will be included in his forthcoming budget, as he said the city looks to close a budget deficit amid rising municipal employee health insurance and other fixed costs.

"This was always kind of a last option for me," Bettencourt said. "I do not relish bringing this forward. I knew it would be unpopular. That there would be frustration and anger.

"But it's the position we're in."

Most who spoke during an hour of public comment were against the fee.

City Councilor Anne Manning-Martin, a candidate for lieutenant governor, made a motion to send the fee proposal back to the mayor's desk for reconsideration after the budget.

She called the trash fee an end-around of Proposition 1/2.

That proposal failed by a 4-1 vote of the Committee.

Bettencourt said the trash fee would delay the need for a discussion on a Proposition 2 1/2 override from two years to five years down the road.

He said the hope is that through systematic budget trimming and a hopeful stabilization of health insurance costs, the city may be able to further push off the need for a tax override.

Bettencourt also proposed a $100 discount fee for senior citizens who live in their own homes, and a $100 fee for veterans and those with disabilities.

He added that he would pledge not to seek an increase in the trash fee for at least the next five years — the duration of the current contract with Republic Services.

The Council subcommittee passed the recommendation for the $200 fee with discounts and the five-year moratorium by a 4-1 vote.

The ordinance now goes before the full Committee of the Whole for a discussion and final vote.

Several residents suggested a so-called "pay-as-you-throw" system where those who throw away the most trash pay more than others. But Bettencourt called the system "a terrible idea" that penalizes larger families with small children.

Bettencourt said the fee would create $2.4 million in revenue for the city and would provide "some relief so that we can continue to provide the services that I think are essential."