The Boothbay Region Disposal Refuse District’s operating costs may rise in 2018. The district is a member of the Municipal Review Committee which contracts with the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company in Orrington. The MRC handles disposal waste and recycling issues for 187 Maine communities.

PERC is subsidizing the MRC’s tipping fees through a favorable energy contract with Emera Maine, formerly Bangor Hydro Co., signed 25 years ago. That contract ends in 2018. 

Refuse District Operations Manager Steve Lewis told the BRRDD board July 9 that the MRC’s subsidized tipping fees were coming to an end.

Without the Emera Maine deal, PERC is looking for its other customers to make up the difference. The MRC (which is 23 percent owner of PERC) contracted a $79.50 per ton tipping fee for its members. The fees are reduced by the performance credit resulting from the Emera Maine contract. The MRC’s deal with PERC also ends in 2018.

Based on a performance credit, MRC members pay an effective rate of $54 per ton for tipping fees. PERC is proposing a new 15-year contract with $84.36 per ton tipping fee for MRC members.

Lewis told the board the MRC is looking for another refuse disposal and recycling option. The MRC wants to operate its own transfer station and recycling center. The MRC has submitted a proposal to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The proposed facility would be located in Hampden. Lewis expects the DEP to rule on the application later this fall.

“Sending our refuse to PERC is no longer economically viable,” Lewis said. “The MRC is focusing on the Hampden proposal. The MRC will likely know in October if the DEP approves the application. At that time we’ll know better what our future tipping fees will be.”

PERC’s majority owner is USA Energy Group headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm owns 77 percent of PERC.

In other action, Dan Giles, owner of Giles Rubbish, commented about a letter in the Boothbay Register. The author, Bruce Barter, criticized the district’s decision to keep the transfer station open July 4. He characterized the decision as “disrespectful” and “unpatriotic.”

Giles urged the board to keep the station open during Memorial, Independence and Labor days. He said when the transfer station is closed for two days it’s not a pleasant experience to be behind a garbage truck on Monday morning.

“Trash doesn’t take a holiday, and it doesn’t sleep. It’s 24 hours per day,” Giles said.

Lewis said the BRRDD has no plans of closing during the holidays.

The district also changed the foreman’s position from an hourly wage to salary. Foreman William Johnson’s new pay status will take effect the next pay period, according to Lewis. His salary will be $45,000 per year. Lewis said it was neither a pay raise or decrease.

“With what he makes in overtime it’s about the same,” Lewis said. “The change benefits him more in the short term, and us (BRRDD), in the long term.”

Johnson has been the foreman for four years.

The board also elected its slate of officers for the year: Gary Farnham of Boothbay Harbor, chairman; Chuck Cunningham of Boothbay, vice chairman; Kirk Brewer of Boothbay, personnel director; Rob Hopkins of Southport, treasurer, and Palmer Payne of Boothbay Harbor, assistant treasurer.

The board still has one position vacant. The clerk will be filled by the Edgecomb representative. The district expects a new Edgecomb representative named to board of directors in a couple weeks, according to Lewis.

The Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District next meeting will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13 in the district’s office in Boothbay.