By ANTHONY BOTTAN
The seven villages involved -- Rockville Centre, East Rockaway, Lynbrook, Malverne, Valley Stream, Freeport and Garden City -- are currently under a garbage disposal contract with the town and Covanta, a facility that converts energy from waste, until August 2009. The Town of Hempstead offered the villages a new 25-year contract, which would put the local municipalities under the umbrella of the town's contract with Covanta. According to Malverne Trustee Joseph Hennessy, under the proposed contract villages would be charged $88 per ton for garbage disposal, plus a two percent management fee. Hennessy said he wants to see if there are other, less-costly alternatives for garbage disposal.
"We know that if we go with Covanta directly, we don't have to pay the two percent," Hennessy said. "We want to find ways to cut costs and it's time the villages understand what's out there."
The villages entered into a municipal agreement to hire Dvirka and Bartilucci Consulting Engineers to conduct a study that will analyze how the villages pick up trash, what it recycles and suggest how to improve those areas. According to Rockville Centre Trustee Dave Krasula, the study begins this week. Once completed, the villages will put out a Request for Proposal. Essentially, the villages are looking to get bids from garbage disposal companies to find the most cost-effective solution. However, village officials have a July 2008 deadline to decide if they want to re-sign with the town or find an alternative means of disposing of trash. The price and length of the contract are the main concerns of village officials.
"Cost is a big factor," Krasula said. "The $88 a ton would be somewhere around $12 more a ton than we currently pay. We feel that the amount currently being charged is higher than it needs to be."
Valley Stream Village Clerk Vinny Ang agreed with Krasula, and said it is the due diligence of the village to find the best possible price for residents. "They (town officials) are not giving it to us at a bargain price," Ang said. "The way the contract is written, the rates can increase at any time, but no where does it say that rates could decrease."
The length of the contract was the main deterrent for Lynbrook Mayor Brian Curran, who said he was wary of the village signing a contract for a quarter-century with the Town of Hempstead. "The biggest concern I have with a 25-year contract is that nobody knows if there will be any innovation to handling garbage refuse," Curran said. "If there is, we are still locked into the contract."
When asked if a garbage disposal contract with the town would be advantageous for the villages, Town of Hempstead spokeswoman Sue Trenkle said it was up to each villages to decide on its own.
Hennessy said the biggest thing for the villages is to find out what alternatives are out there, like using transfer stations for village garbage or hauling trash to upstate New York.
Rockville Centre Mayor Mary Bossart added that the villages have not rejected the town's offer, but the study will allow village officials to be more informed on trash disposal and how it could impact villages in the future.
"Principally, people want to see taxes down," Bossart said, "and we want to be as green as we possibly can."
